ByMIRIAM SELA-EITAM
Updated:

The Syrian government is acting in coordination with the United States, under the impression that the US supports Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's actions to take control over Jabal al-Druze, a Syrian defense official told Israeli broadcaster KAN News on Saturday.

Citing the official, KAN reported that American support is conditional both on Shaara's actions not harming Israel's national security and that there be no further massacres of the Druze currently living in the area, such as in the case of Sweida in July 2025.

Members of the community in Swieda told The Jerusalem Post in October that 2,500 people were murdered by the Syrian Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham Sunni-Islamist group (HTS) and state-backed Bedouin groups.

More than 250 people, including women and children, were abducted in the violence. A further 291,000 others were displaced, according to the community.

The official noted that Syria's government has yet to decide on re-entering Sweida, explaining that "it will happen sooner or later, hopefully through dialogue and understanding."

A druze fighter stands at a roundabout draped with the Druze flag and a portrait of a local leader, in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria, in July, after a ceasefire in the southern province halted a week of sectarian bloodshed.
A druze fighter stands at a roundabout draped with the Druze flag and a portrait of a local leader, in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria, in July, after a ceasefire in the southern province halted a week of sectarian bloodshed. (credit: Shadi al-Dubaisi/AFP via Getty Images)

Syrian gov't extends ceasefire with Kurds

However, tensions in Syria are far from over. The ceasefire between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which expired on Saturday night, was extended by another 15 days, Syria's Defense Ministry said in a post to X/Twitter that evening.  

The extension comes to support an ongoing US operation to transfer Islamic State detainees from SDF prisons in Syria to Iraq, the ministry explained.

The ceasefire was agreed upon last week, after government forces rapidly seized swathes of northern and eastern territory from the SDF. With the ceasefire, Shaara offered an ultimatum: lay down arms and come up with a plan to integrate with Syria's army, or the fighting would resume.

According to Reuters, a Syrian official said on Saturday that the SDF had not responded to the government's attempts to reach out. Meanwhile, the SDF accused the government of moving towards escalation in a "systematic manner" through military build-ups.

The SDF said in a statement that the agreement had been reached through international mediation, "while dialogue with Damascus continues."

Danielle Greyman-Kennard and Reuters contributed to this report.