The IDF will either attack the Syrian forces if there is a problem, or if it is just a threat to keep distance from Israel, the 'Post' learned.

Instruction comes as new Syrian government authorities clash with local Druze gunmen in Jaramana, just outside capital The post Netanyahu and Katz direct IDF to ‘prepare to defend’ Syrian Druze suburb of Damascus appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Israel’s defense ministry says the military has been instructed to prepare to defend a Druze settlement in the suburbs of Damascus in neighboring Syria.

Protests erupted across southern Syria in response, with civilians condemning Netanyahu’s remarks as interference in Syrian sovereignty. Demonstrators called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the buffer zone along the Syrian border and rejected any foreign military presence in the region.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed the military to “prepare to defend” the Druze inhabitants of Jaramana city near Syria’s capital Damascus. This comes in a new escalation by Netanyahu's government against the new administration in Syria, which is demanding an end to the ongoing Israeli violations of the country's sovereignty.

Netanyahu never would have considered extending Israel’s protection to the Syrian Druze. That he is doing so now underscores how much has changed.