By bnm Gulf bureau Violent clashes broke out in Jaramana, a suburb near Damascus, between Syria’s new Turkish-backed administration security forces and local Druze militias on March 2. The Druze in Syria are a small but influential religious minority.

Israel’s defense minister says minority Druze in Jaramana a town south of Damascus, were under attack from the new Syrian regime and that he ordered Israeli forces to be poised to help protect them if necessary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will not allow Syria’s new army or the insurgent group that led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad to “enter the area south of Damascus”