Syrian Druze deny agreeing to deal with new Islamist government

Flyers circulating in Sweida called the Druze who met with Sharaa “vile dwarves” and “pale, statusless people.”

By Baruch Yedid, TPS

A close associate of a key Syrian Druze leader denied reports the community reached an agreement to integrate itself into Syria’s transitional government in a conversation with The Press Service of Israel.

“The media reports about an agreement between the Druze and the Syrian regime are not true and we deny them outright,” said a figure close to Sheikh Hikmat al-Jari, the spiritual leader of Syria’s community of 700,000-800,000.

“We have a series of conditions before the sheikh agrees to what has been reported in the various channels and he is the only one authorized to make decisions on behalf of the Druze in Sweida,” he told TPS-IL.

“For now,” al-Jari’s associate told TPS-IL, “His honor has not ordered the weapons to be handed over and his current position is that the weapons will not be handed over until a permanent government is established that is not a transitional government, after all the factions hand over their weapons and only when there is a state of security in Syria, which the current situation is far from being…”

He added, “The opposite is true. We only recently established a military council to protect the Druze in the province in order to stand up to the forces and the regime, whose relations with it are currently unclear.”

According to al-Jari’s associate, “We do not know how the agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the government will affect those who signed it, but we, for now, are not going in that direction…”

He said that some Druze who did meet with President Ahmed al-Sharaa “were extremely low-ranking people who do not reflect the position in Sweida.” The 138,000 residents of Sweida, located near the borders of Israel and Jordan, are predominantly Druze.

Flyers circulating in Sweida called the Druze who met with Sharaa “vile dwarves” and “pale, statusless people.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the demilitarization of southern Syria and protection for its Druze community on Feb. 23. An estimated 700,000-800,000 Druze live in Syria, mostly in southwestern areas near Israel and Jordan. They make up around four percent of the Syrian population.

Analysts and Israeli Druze recently told TPS-IL that Netanyahu’s remarks were a major shift in Israeli policy. Israel is preparing to allow Syrian Druze to work in the Golan Heights.

Israel sent forces into the 235 sq km buffer zone to prevent Syrian rebels from approaching the border when the regime of Bashar Assad collapsed in December.

Israel also launched waves of airstrikes on Syrian army assets and Iranian stockpiles to prevent them from falling into the hands of radical Islamists.

Israel considers the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria void until order is restored in Syria. Defense Minister Israel Katz said troops will remain in the buffer zone indefinitely.