By Estelle Shirbon

HURFEISH, Israel (Reuters) - 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 relationship" with its own Druze.

That relationship was strained in 2018, when tens of thousands of Druze protested against a new law stating that only Jews have the right of self-determination in the country.

Yet in the Galilee's Druze villages, perched on steep slopes lush with oak and olive trees, Israeli flags and Druze flags - a green triangle with red, yellow, blue and white stripes - are equally ubiquitous on flagpoles and public buildings.

In March, a delegation of Syrian Druze religious elders was allowed into Israel to visit a holy shrine for the first time in 50 years, sparking huge celebrations among Israeli Druze.

'NO OTHER CHOICES'

The fighting in Druze areas of Syria started on April 29 and left more than 100 Druze dead, mostly gunmen, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which also reported 32 Islamist deaths.

Coming after hundreds of Alawites, another Syrian minority, were slaughtered by pro-government fighters in March, the violence was viewed as an existential threat by many Druze.

"It's not easy to see the pictures and to hear them turning to us to help," said Anan Wahabi, a Druze former IDF officer, now a university lecturer in political science.

The spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to press for military action. Some Druze soldiers signed a letter volunteering to go and fight in Syria. Druze protesters blocked roads to pressure the government into intervening.

Israel responded with air strikes, including one near the presidential palace in Damascus which it called a warning to the Syrian government not to deploy forces south of the capital or threaten the Druze. It also said it had sent ground troops to protect Druze villages and had evacuated some casualties.

"The IDF continues to monitor developments and remains at peak readiness for defense and various scenarios," it said last week.

Syria accused Israel of a dangerous escalation and rejected any foreign intervention. The government has made concessions to ease tensions with the Druze, such as hiring security forces locally rather than bringing them in from elsewhere.

Some Druze say Israel should keep quieter about its actions to shield the Syrian Druze from being seen as Israeli proxies.

"We expect a country that we die for to protect our brothers, but it's better if they tone it down," Salim Barik, a political scientist, was quoted as saying by Israeli newspaper Calcalist.

But Wahabi said the Syrian Druze needed Israel's support regardless of optics.

"In this chaos in Syria the Druze have no other choices," he said.

In the Galilee village of Yanuh-Jat, local religious elder Sheikh Kamal Hatib, speaking at the shrine of a Druze saint, said Israeli Druze would keep pushing for their government to protect their Syrian brethren.

"If something happens, we're going to be there," he said.

(Additional reporting by Avivit Delgoshen, Maayan Lubell, Tom Perry and Timour Azhari, Editing by William Maclean)