“We’re working to save lots of our Druze brothers,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on July 16 as Israel focused the Syrian navy’s headquarters in Damascus. Netanyahu’s feedback got here after Israel intervened in an advanced energy battle involving Sunni Arab Bedouin tribes, Druze militias, and Syrian authorities forces, throughout which tons of of predominantly Druze civilians suffered horrific violence.
In explaining their actions, Israeli officers have offered the Syrian Druze as a single bloc that’s unified in resisting authorities management and rejecting integration into the Syrian state. The fact, nevertheless, is extra complicated. The Druze group is definitely involved concerning the rise of Ahmad al-Sharaa and the Islamist affect in his new authorities. However completely different Druze leaders have taken numerous approaches to Damascus: Some have signaled a conciliatory method to Sharaa, whereas others have resisted state management utterly.
In the end, a peaceable and lasting power-sharing association would require compromise between Damascus and the Druze group. U.S. and Israeli strain can assist make this attainable—however solely whether it is deployed constructively. This implies supporting Druze leaders who see a future inside Syria, reasonably than deepening divisions by weighing in on behalf of 1 explicit faction.
The Druze in Syria quantity round 700,000, making up about 3 % of the nation’s inhabitants. The overwhelming majority of them reside in Sweida governorate, situated in southwestern Syria alongside the border with Israel, whereas smaller communities are additionally present in Idlib, Quneitra, and Rif Dimashq. On account of their comparatively small quantity, the Druze have lengthy strived to keep away from persecution from Damascus.
At present, the Druze group is certainly apprehensive about its future beneath Syria’s new leaders. Many concern that Sharaa will create a coercive new safety regime that can function in response to Islamist rules, marginalize the Druze group, and deny them constitutional protections for his or her spiritual and cultural distinctiveness.
These considerations are definitely justified. After Sharaa’s rise to energy, he built-in 18 militias into the brand new Sunni-dominated Syrian navy. Concurrently, his constitutional declaration that outlined Syria’s political future was exclusionary. It concentrated energy in Sharaa’s fingers, granting him the authority to nominate lawmakers, management the judicial system, and function with no oversight. This course of marginalized the Druze and different minority teams, whom Damascus neither consulted nor acknowledged.
The Druze endured a turbulent relationship with Islamist teams all through the Syrian civil struggle, significantly with Sharaa’s former faction, the Nusra Entrance. The tensions turned lethal in 2015, when Nusra fighters opened fireplace on protesters within the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib, killing at the very least 20 Druze. Within the aftermath, the Druze urged Nusra to carry the perpetrator accountable. However the militant group by no means prosecuted anybody, leaving the group with a lingering sense of concern. This lack of accountability solely deepened the Druze’s mistrust of the brand new authorities.
Nonetheless, levels of belief within the new authorities fluctuate considerably throughout Druze factions, shaping the extent of their collaboration with the state. Whereas the Druze in Syria share a powerful sense of identification, they lack an organized and formal management construction akin to Lebanon’s Druze group, which is represented by the Progressive Socialist Occasion and people corresponding to Walid Jumblatt. As an alternative, their management is primarily religious, centered on three key spiritual figures in Sweida: Sheikhs Hammoud al-Hinnawi, Yousef Jarbou, and Hikmat al-Hijri. Collectively, these males maintain probably the most affect over Syria’s Druze, guiding each their religious and political selections.
The three leaders signify diverging agendas inside the Druze group. The cut up between the three occurred in 2012, when Hijri led the Druze from his city of Qanawat, whereas each Hinnawi and Jarbou led the group from Ain al-Zaman.
The politics of the three sheikhs have additionally diverged considerably; Jarbou is pragmatic and open to negotiations with the brand new Syrian state and integration; Hinnawi shares an identical outlook, opposing inner divisions and specializing in placing all arms beneath the state’s management. Nonetheless, Hijri is probably the most vocal and decided opponent of Sharaa’s rule. He was the primary to firmly reject Syrian authorities management over Sweida. In April, he sharply condemned the brand new authorities, calling it a group of “terrorist factions” and declaring its maintain over Damascus to be “unacceptable each domestically and internationally.” Hijri has repeatedly described the federal government as an “extremist group needed by worldwide justice.” Hinnawi has affirmed Sharaa as Syria’s president, expressing his willingness to “cooperate with him for the sake of the nation.” Jarbou has echoed these sentiments, signaling a extra conciliatory stance towards Sharaa’s authorities.
Along with the brand new authorities in Damascus, Israel has additionally develop into some extent of competition between the three leaders. Hijri has repeatedly referred to as for “worldwide intervention” to resolve the disaster in southern Syria, even explicitly advocating an Israeli intervention to protect his native autonomy over Sweida. Such intervention would additionally thwart any try by the Syrian authorities to centralize its rule within the space. Against this, the opposite two Druze leaders have persistently framed their points with Damascus as home, rejecting overseas involvement.
Fashionable attitudes towards Israel additionally fluctuate. In Sweida, for example, residents took down and burned an Israeli flag after unknown people hoisted it in a public sq.. After Netanyahu pledged to defend Syria’s Druze again in February, a faction aligned with Hijri started pushing for nearer ties with Israel, whilst Hijri distanced himself from the trouble. This faction, the Sweida Navy Council, consists of former officers of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
All through the civil struggle, Hijri supported Assad and even fashioned a native militia in coordination with the regime’s navy safety equipment. Hijri has additionally hosted and met with representatives from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq supported by the Assad regime, corresponding to Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. Regardless of this, Hijri started criticizing the Assad regime within the last years of the civil struggle after Assad’s navy intelligence director in Sweida, Louay al-Ali, insulted him and the Druze group throughout a cellphone name in 2021.
Whereas the Sweida Navy Council initially claimed that Israel didn’t help it, the scenario on the bottom advised a unique story. When the Syrian military introduced its plan to enter Sweida on July 15 after two days of clashes between Druze militias and Sunni Arab Bedouin tribes, each Jarbou and Hinnawi accepted the entry of presidency forces. Hijri, in contrast, rejected it. Nearly instantly, Israel launched an intense air marketing campaign in opposition to Syrian troops coming into Sweida, implying shut coordination between Hijri and Israel.
The disagreements between the Druze leaders didn’t finish there. The Syrian authorities agreed to a cease-fire association with Jarbou and Hinnawi on July 16. Nonetheless, Hijri rejected it, vowing to proceed the battle to expel Sharaa’s forces from Sweida. Jarbou emphasised that “nearly all of the folks of Sweida hope to revive stability,” stressing that “solely integration beneath the state will convey safety and stability.” Against this, Hijri declared that “anybody who diverges from our place will likely be held accountable.”
The preventing between Sharaa’s forces and the militias affiliated with Hijri culminated in one other cease-fire on July 16. Signed by the Sweida Navy Council and the Syrian authorities, it dictated that authorities forces exit Sweida. Nonetheless, the cease-fire faltered the subsequent day. What adopted was a marketing campaign by the Hijri-affiliated militias in opposition to Bedouins in Sweida, whose houses had been torched and lots of of whom had been taken hostage. This in flip prompted Bedouin tribes throughout Syria to mobilize and commit violations in opposition to Druze in Sweida. Then, in response to this preventing, authorities forces returned to the governorate however kept away from coming into Sweida metropolis attributable to a requirement by Hijri. The clashes ended with a deal on July 19 that allowed authorities forces to retrieve the Bedouins who had been taken in trade for Bedouin militants withdrawing from the governorate.
The scenario in Sweida has been the best problem confronting the brand new authorities in Damascus since taking management in December. Resolving it is going to require all sides to behave extra constructively than they’ve to date.
First, Sharaa’s authorities ought to interact these Druze leaders who’ve proven openness towards integration, corresponding to Jarbou and Hinnawi, and work to handle their considerations. Within the quick time period, the federal government should set up establishments in Sweida to ship important companies. Securing the freeway connecting Damascus and Sweida, which has develop into a website for abductions and crime for the reason that fall of the Assad regime, can construct belief with the Druze group. The federal government also needs to acknowledge native sensitivities, particularly considerations over Islamist parts inside its safety equipment. A technique to do that can be by growing a mechanism to combine native Druze into the nationwide police drive.
In the long run, the Syrian authorities should maintain accountable these liable for violations in opposition to the Druze. On July 22, the committee investigating crimes dedicated in opposition to Alawites in March stated it had offered the names of 298 alleged perpetrators, together with members of the Syrian armed forces, to the courts for additional investigation. The ball is now in Sharaa’s courtroom, because the world watches to see if he’s prepared to prosecute these inside his personal ranks. Past accountability, a cohesive political course of is required. This could enable all segments of Syrian society to take part within the nation’s authorities with full respect for his or her cultural and non secular identities.
Israel has proven the Syrian authorities that it’s prepared to make use of navy means to defend Syria’s Druze group. On the identical time, Sharaa has made it clear that he doesn’t search an open confrontation with Israel, placing the pursuits of Syrians earlier than “chaos and destruction.” This could lend itself to an consequence negotiated by way of the again channels and safety talks which have been underway since Could. If Sharaa can provide credible assurances that therapy of the Druze will enhance, Netanyahu can declare success and finish the airstrikes, thereby assembly Sharaa’s demand as properly.
Israel insists it’s working to guard the Druze minority. Nonetheless, Israel should stay cautious with whom it chooses to ally. Hijri doesn’t converse for your complete Druze inhabitants, and treating him as such will backfire. If Israel is sucked into an influence battle inside the Syrian Druze group, it is going to finally be unhealthy for the Druze, unhealthy for Syria, and unhealthy for Israel.
In the meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed a want to stabilize Syria by eradicating sanctions. Nonetheless, the US should additionally strain Sharaa to show to Syria’s ethnoreligious teams that he’s a pacesetter they will belief—one who will defend their pursuits and assure their security. A vital step in incomes belief is for Sharaa to carry accountable fighters liable for crimes in opposition to each the Alawite and Druze communities. Washington should make it clear to Sharaa that any additional sanctions aid hinges on his efforts to cease permitting his forces to behave with impunity.
