Israel army says opened mobile clinic for Druze in southern Syria

Israel's military said Thursday it opened a mobile medical clinic in southern Syria to support the Druze population, which it has committed to defending in recent weeks.

In footage published by the army, military medical personnel can be seen treating a man with his arm in cast -- all of whom have their faces blurred -- in what appears to be a mobile cabin.

"The IDF (military) has begun operating a forward mobile triage facility in southern Syria, in the area of the village of Hader," a statement said.

"The facility is part of several efforts undertaken by the IDF to support the Syrian-Druze population and ensure their safety."

In the wake of recent bloody inter-communal clashes in Syria, Israel threatened to intervene directly if the new government in Damascus "takes action against the Druze".

Druze fighters recently clashed with forces loyal to Syria's new Islamist rulers in predominantly Druze and Christian areas near Damascus and in the Druze stronghold of Suweida in the southwest.

Several dozen Druze have been taken to hospital in Israel since the clashes began, according to a doctor at the Ziv Medical Center in the northern Israeli city of Safed.

On May 3, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a strike near the presidential palace in Damascus should serve as a "clear message" to Syria's new rulers.

"We will not allow forces to be sent south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community," he said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz.

The Druze, followers of an esoteric religion that split from Shiite Islam, are mainly found in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel.

In Israel, they form an Arabic-speaking minority of more than 150,000 people, and 22,000 Druze live in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. Unlike other Arab Israelis, Druze serve in the Israeli army.