Tel Aviv [Israel], May 5 (ANI/TPS): Speaking at a conference on Israeli security and the Druze in Akko on Monday, Sheikh Muafak Tarif, spiritual leader of Israel's Druze community, called on the international community to protect Syrian minorities from radical Islamists.

'After October 7 and after what Hezbollah did, Israel cannot allow extremist terror groups to be on its northern border,' Tarif said.

Tarif urged the international community to help Syria move beyond its political deadlock and establish a democratic government inclusive of its diverse ethnic groups, which he said could eventually lead to peace with Israel. He highlighted the plight of the Druze in Syria, noting that 'a thousand foreign ISIS fighters' openly reject the Druze as part of Syria.

Tarif stressed that while Israeli Druze do not seek to interfere in Syria's politics, they are committed to defending Druze communities.

He lamented that international aid for the Druze has yet to materialize. Separately, Tarif emphasized that 'above all,' the immediate priorities must be the return of Israeli hostages from Gaza and an end to the war.

Sectarian violence in the Damascus area has continued between Islamic gunmen linked to the regime of President Ahmed al-Sharaa and local Druze. Forty-two Druze are said to have been killed in more than a week of clashes. Israel launched warning strikes on Wednesday and Friday including near the compound of the Turkish-backed al-Sharaa.

Israel's Druze community of 152,000 has been calling on the government to take stronger measures to protect their co-religionists in southern Syria. Around 40,000 Druze live in the southern Syrian provinces of Quneitra, Da'ara and Sweida under Israeli protection. Netanyahu has called for the demilitarization of southern Syria.

The Druze trace their ancestry back to the Biblical figure Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. In Israel, the Druze serve in senior positions in public and military life, and the bond between Jewish and Druze soldiers is referred to as the 'covenant of blood.' The Druze speak Arabic but are not Muslim.

The Druze living in the Galilee and Mount Carmel areas sided with the Jews in 1948 during Israel's War of Independence, opted to be part of Israeli society and established themselves in all areas of public life.

When Israel captured the Golan Heights during the Six-Day War of 1967, the Golan Druze refused Israeli offers of citizenship, believing Syria would recapture the plateau. But attitudes have changed since the Syrian Civil War broke out in 2011. (ANI/TPS)