The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews swiftly mobilized its resources in July to aid persecuted Syrian Druze and Christians facing what some have called a genocide carried out by jihadists in southern Syria.

Syrian-backed forces, including jihadist fighters, launched attacks against Syrian Druze in the southern part of the country, resulting in the murders of

Safwan Marich of the Israeli Druze community runs the Fellowship’s Emergency Response Center and told Fox News Digital that, in the Sweida region, “tyhere is a genocide going on. This needs no further explanation, especially for the Jewish people.

“Once the residents of the deserted village come back, they will understand the magnitude of disaster. Women were kidnapped by jihads, and children were kidnapped and missing.”

Marich has been in contact with his fellow Druze in Syria.

“This war is religious in essence,” he said. “There is a video of Daesh [Islamic State] going to one of the villages asking, ‘Are you a Druze or Sunni?’ And he answered that he is Syrian. He asked him again, so he answered Druze, and he was shot in the middle of the street. It is obvious there is a religious motivation behind this event.

“It is important for me to help the Druze because, first and foremost, I am a Druze. The Druze people are not aggressive and hostile, but they will not sit idly by when they are attacked. We have in the Druze tradition a commandment to help our brothers. To come to aid of Druze community wherever it might be in the world.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (not seen) and Syrian interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa hold a press conference after their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey, Feb. 4, 2025. (Mehmet Ali Ozcan/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Marich also noted he is Israeli, and the other day a Druze officer was killed in Gaza. Twelve officers from the Druze community have been killed in Gaza since the war began.

“They died defending Israel and the Jewish people. We have an expectation that Israeli society will come through and stand by Druze community, and so we can defend our brothers in Syria. The state of Israel cannot afford to have Daesh on its borders and in the Golan Heights.” 

He pointed to the example of Hamas on the border and its growth as a military danger over the years as a warning about radical Islamists gaining a foothold on the Syrian-Israeli border.