HURFEISH, Israel - Pained and angered by deadly clashes between Islamist and Druze gunmen in Syria in recent weeks, leaders of Israel's own Druze minority say the Israeli military was right to intervene to defend the Druze and should do so again if violence restarts.

Close ties between the Israeli state and its 120,000 Druze citizens, strengthened by the fact that Druze men serve in the Israel Defense Forces, are one of the reasons for Israel's deepening involvement in Syria.

"The Druze in Israel have forged a bond with the country and with the Jewish people. We are fighting alongside them on all fronts," said Anwer Amer, a former police officer who is now the mayor of Hurfeish, a Druze town in the Galilee, northern Israel.

"I expect my state and the Jewish people to reciprocate for everything we've done for it and defend our brothers in Syria," he told Reuters at his office.

An Arab minority straddling Lebanon, Syria and Israel, the Druze practise a secret religion that is an offshoot of Islam. Loyal to their culture and to each other, they also seek good relations with the countries where they live.

Druze solidarity is not Israel's only concern in Syria, which has been run by an Islamist group that was once an al Qaeda affiliate since Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December.

Israel sees the Islamists as a threat and has sought to keep their armed forces out of regions close to its border, such as Sweida province where the majority are Druze.

Regional geopolitics are shifting. Israel frequently bombed Syria during Assad's rule to counter his backer, Iran, but now worries about Turkey, a close ally of the Islamists, becoming stronger in Syria and gaining a foothold near Israel's border.

In a major policy change, U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the United States would lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, setting aside deep Israeli suspicion of the new administration there.

In this transformed landscape, defending the Syrian Druze is in Israel's interest because they help keep the Islamists at bay, said Sarit Zehavi, founder of the Alma Center, a security research and teaching organisation in the Galilee.

"Building relationships with the Druze of Syria that are living a few tens of kilometres from the border could help ensure the Islamist monster is not growing next to our border," she said, adding that this was a lesson learned from the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

She said Israel was also duty bound to help the Druze because of its "special relations...