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Benjamin Netanyahu has said he spoke with Syria’s president to discuss the plight of Syrian Druze during Israeli strikes on Damascus in July 2025, in what appears to be the first ever publicly acknowledged direct conversation between the leaders of the two countries.
The Israeli prime minister said the brief exchange with Ahmed al-Sharaa, the successor to Bashar al-Assad, came after Israel bombed Syrian government targets, amid a wave of killings of members of Syria's Druze minority.
“I picked up the phone to Sharaa,” Netanyahu told a conference for members of Israel's Druze community in Yarka on Thursday. “It was a very short and very sharp conversation. And the slaughter stopped.”
He added: “I will do everything I can to protect our brothers and your brothers.”
Violence in Sweida province, a predominantly Druze region in southern Syria, broke out in July 2025, with clashes between Druze armed groups and Bedouin fighters escalating when Syrian government security forces intervened. Government forces and their allies were accused of executing Druze civilians and committing other abuses.
During the fighting, more than 2,000 people were killed, including 789 Druze civilians who were executed by Syrian government security forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Netanyahu’s revelation about the phone call is significant because Israel and Syria have no formal diplomatic relations and have fought several wars.
It also offers a glimpse of direct communication between their leaders as the two countries explore a possible security agreement despite deep disagreements over territory and Israel's military presence in southern Syria.
Israel, which has a Druze community of around 150,000 people, has longstanding ties with the minority. Many Israeli Druze have family connections across the border. During its attacks, Israel struck Syrian government forces in Sweida and bombed its defence ministry and a target near the presidential palace in Damascus, saying it was acting to protect the Druze.
Since Assad's overthrow in December 2024, Israel has carried out numerous strikes in Syria and deployed troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone, as well as taking positions on the Syrian side of the border. Israel says its actions are necessary to protect its security; Damascus has condemned them.
The two governments have nevertheless held US-mediated talks on a security agreement intended to prevent further escalation.
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