Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey for increased aid to the beleaguered Druze community in Syria during Dempsey’s visit to Israel last week, the Times of Israel reported Sunday.

The request was lodged with the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman during the military chief’s Jerusalem visit, and after Israel ruled out direct involvement in Jabal al-Druze. The area, which lies deep in Syrian territory, faces attack by the Islamic State from the east and Al-Nusra front from the west, the report said.

Israel did not, however, nix sending aid to the Druze community in Khadr, on the Syrian Golan Heights, it said.

News of the Israeli request follows the killing of 20 Druze villagers by the Nusra Front, Syria’s Al Qaeda affiliate, late last week.

Christian communities in the region of southern Syria bordering Israel and Jordan, where most of the Druze live, are also potentially under threat from the Nusra Front.

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