In a series of statements, Israeli leaders have vowed to use significant force to halt the Syrian government’s advance into the Druze heartland, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning on Wednesday, “The signaling in Damascus is over. Now will come painful blows.”

The dramatic Israeli intervention follows the expansion of violent clashes on Wednesday, when forces loyal to Syrian leader Ahmad al-Sharaa entered the provincial capital of Sweida, sparking fierce resistance from local armed Druze factions.

In response to the assault, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Katz issued a joint statement directing the IDF “to immediately attack regime forces and weapons brought into the Sweida area,” citing both the need to enforce the demilitarization of southern Syria and Israel’s “deep alliance with our Druze citizens in Israel, and their familial and historical connection to the Druze in Syria.”

An Israeli military official, speaking on Wednesday, elaborated on the two core principles guiding Israel’s actions. “The first and most important one is to prevent a buildup of a threat on our border in southern Syria,” he stated. “The second one is to prevent the massacre of the Druze in Syria. To prevent these things from happening. We will not stand idly by. A lot of the people in Israel, Druze in Israel, have family members, cousins, brothers, sisters, just a mountain away in Syria.”

The official noted that “many of the people” in the Syrian regime and its army are former ISIS members.

The official rejected the Syrian regime’s claims that its objective was to restore order, arguing that its presence has only inflamed the situation. “The scenes that we are seeing from Syria are harsh and brutal. The more the Syrian regime has intervened, the worse it looks,” he said. “The situation has become much worse for the Druze community in the last 24 hours.”

“Before they approached the area, Sweida had somewhere between 70 and 80 percent control of the Druze,” said the source. “It is flipped now. The regime has encircled with firing artillery from the outskirts of Sweida to within Sweida, and we are operating against the Syrian regime with our two main purposes.”

The military official stressed that “the difference between a conflict and a massacre. And I think that their [Syrian army] presence is not helpful, on the contrary.”

To that end, the Israeli Air Force has been conducting dozens of strikes over the past several days. According to the military official, it has targeted Syrian regime forces and their infrastructure, including “tanks, rocket launchers, weapons, pickup trucks loaded with heavy machine guns on their way to Sweida.”

Israel has also struck key access roads to physically block the regime’s advance and, in a clear message to Damascus, hit the entrance of the Syrian regime’s military headquarters and a military target within the presidential palace compound.

The situation on the ground remains highly volatile. On Wednesday morning, local armed Druze factions launched a counter-attack and reportedly retook control of several positions in Sweida city that had been seized by regime forces.

The fighting has been exceptionally bloody. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 203 people have been killed since the clashes began, including 71 residents of the Druze province, 111 regime fighters and allied gunmen, and at least 21 civilians who were executed by the regime-aligned forces.

An attempt at a ceasefire on July 15 quickly collapsed amid accusations of treachery. The prominent Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, released a video statement accusing the al-Sharaa regime of immediately violating the terms by continuing to shell the city, calling on all Druze to resist what he termed a “war of annihilation.”

Reports also emerged of atrocities committed by regime forces, including the ritual humiliation of Druze men by forcibly shaving their mustaches—a grave insult in Druze culture—and the looting and burning of the St. Michael Church in a village in northern Sweida.

The crisis has had a direct impact on Israel’s border. On July 15, the IDF confirmed that dozens of Israeli Druze citizens from Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights had breached the border fence in an attempt to enter Syria and aid their brethren.

The military official said the incident would be investigated, explaining that the IDF’s focus is on external threats. In response, the IDF has significantly reinforced its presence on the Golan Heights, redeploying troops, including a brigade that had been operating in Gaza, to defensive positions along the border to prevent further unauthorized crossings and prepare for any spillover from the fighting.

Katz has issued a series of warnings to Damascus. On Wednesday morning, he stated, “The Syrian regime must leave the Druze in Sweida alone and pull its forces back. As we have clarified and warned, Israel will not abandon the Druze in Syria and will enforce the demilitarization policy we decided on.” Hours later, he declared that Israel would “raise the level of response” if the message was not understood, culminating in his threat of “painful blows.”

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir instructed the military to reinforce intelligence-gathering capabilities, strike capabilities, and deploy back-up forces to Northern Command to speed up the pace of Israeli strikes and thwart threats to the Syrian Druze community.

“The IDF is committed to the deep alliance with the Druze community and is therefore conducting strikes against military targets throughout Syria to defend them in the Sweida region, Jabal al-Druze and wherever necessary. The 210th Division’s sector will be reinforced with additional troops along the border area and at outposts within the security zone,” the military stated. “The uncontrolled crossing of the border into Syria endangers both the Druze community and our soldiers and must be stopped immediately.”