Israel said on Monday that it was willing to defend Syria's Druze community following days of violence in Syria that a war monitor said led to mass killings of another religious minority.

By bnm Gulf bureau bnm Gulf bureau Fresh clashes south of Damascus between local Druze and government forces suggest the community may be laying groundwork for a semi-autonomous or fully independent non-Islamic statelet before Damascus manages to create a new government.

After a report first published in i24NEWS, Israel Katz confirmed that Druze would be allowed to enter Israel for work • An aid package will also go to Druze and Circassian communities in Israel

The Golan Heights is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam and also live in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Members of the small religious sect find themselves caught between two forces that many of them distrust: the new, Islamist-led government in Damascus and Syria’s hostile neighbor, Israel, which has used the plight of the Druze as a pretext to intervene in the country.

Israel’s Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it will permit Syrian Druze workers to enter the disputed Golan Heights territory from Syria, although no timeline has been provided for when permits will start being issued.

Israel is preparing to "soon" allow Syrian Druze to work in the Golan Heights, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday."We will soon allow Druze workers from Syria to work in the Golan Heights communities in Israel,

The Syrian Druze were a minority in the Assad era who mostly kept to themselves, with some past positive history with Israel.