A new military organization was announced on Monday by Druze militants in the southern Syrian province of Suweyda, named “The Suweyda Military Council.”
During the announcement ceremony, the founders stated that its role will be to protect the Druze communities and guard the border against arms smuggling and infiltration of extremist terrorists.
The new council’s leader is Tareq Al-Shuofi, a Druze military leader who was wanted by the Assad regime after having defected from the military and having protested and advocated against the regime in the past decade, and who appears to be rather unknown internationally or outside the local arena.
Al-Shoufi announced during the launching ceremony that the council is operating in full coordination with the spiritual leader of the Druze in Swayda, Sheikh Hikmal Al-Hijri, which in turn means that it enjoys a large consensus within the local Druze community.
Al-Shoufi also stressed that the council aspires to remain under the national framework of Syria and, in due course, to join the national army of the new state, which he described as a “Modern, equal citizenship and human rights (granting), democratic, secular, decentralized Syrian state, a state of justice and regional and global peace.”
In an interview for the local Step News Agency, Al-Shoufi explained that the concurrent council was started a couple of years ago by a group of former officers who refused to take part in the military of the Assad regime, and which took part in the long standing anti-Assad protests at the Al-Karama square and movement.
Al-Shoufi directed his words at current Syrian leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, calling on him to learn from the mistakes of the past and form an army made up of all the populations in Syria.
Scenes from the announcement showed militants raising both the Druze and the new Syrian flags, while a video showed the Druze fighters calling “We will sacrifice our lives for Syria, we are the sons of Suwayda!” – perhaps in an attempt to stress their allegiance to the territorial unity of state and counter any potential accusations of dissidence.
Israeli expert: ‘the Druze in Syria express fear over Al-Shara’s extreme tendencies’
The newly organized Druze forces are joining a long list of several armed groups currently operating in Syria, including the Kurdish forces (Qased or SDF), the Syrian army/Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and many others. The Jerusalem Post reached out to Dr Moran Levanoni, an expert on Syria and Lebanon, to hear more about the prospects of the formation of the council.
“Ever since Ahmad al-Sharaa arrived in Damascus, the Druze in southern Syria have feared religious extremists,” Levanoni explained. “They look at the appointments to the interim government, and all they see are Sunni religious men from the same background. There are no Kurds, Alawites or Druze or even Sunni secularists. They also view with much anxiety what is happening in the Alawite and Christian neighborhoods,” he added, referring to videos showing violent riots conducted against those minorities.
According to Levanoni, Al-Sharaa is trying to “dance some kind of waltz with the Kurds, because he views it of importance that they remain partners in his new system, though so far he has not been able to achieve this.” Levanoni pointed to the activity of an Al-Shara-appointed ‘dialogue committee’ that travels through all the provinces in Syria in an attempt to gather the different communities’ views, all in an attempt to unify Syria without it being deemed openly Sunni and fundamentalist.
“As for the Druze, the questions which arise now are whether and how they would be partners in this new Syria, especially in light of the Kurds’ relative success in playing the game without being full partners yet, and this is where the new council comes in,” Levanoni explained.
“The Druze are naturally lured to the side of federalization of Syria, meaning, the creation of a decentralized government mechanism,” he added, echoing Al-Shoufi’s words.
Levanoni reminded that the Druze in Suwayda have been actively protesting against the Assad regime since the days of the Al-Karamah movement back in 2013, which broke out against the backdrop of the recruitment of Druze into the Syrian army to fight the rebels, a movement which contributed to the coalescing of the Druze community in the area.
However, according to Levanoni, despite the collaboration with the popularly revered spiritual leadership, not all the Druze in the Suwayda area are in favor of the new council. “In 2015, the Druze Al-Liwaa party was established in Suwayda, which received training from US forces and has categorically rejected any secession from Syria, calling for security cooperation with the Sunni Bedouin tribes in Daraa. So naturally, they view the new committee with disdain, which means not all are Druze are happy with this step,” he explained.
Levanoni deems that the forming of the council should not be read in isolation from Netanyahu’s comments from Sunday, in which the Israeli premier pledged to protect the Druze in southern Syria from any threat. “This pro-federal, semi-autonomous trend existed as a sub-current within Druze society for a long time, but Netanyahu’s statements allowed it to make even more headlines,” Levanoni argued. “Foreign Minister Sa’ar also said a couple of months ago that Israel should support the large minorities in Syria, namely the Kurds and the Druze, and this statement surely fell on attentive ears.”
Finally, Levanoni reminded that ties between the Druze in Israel and in Syria, which were always strong, experienced a stark growth lately. This trend could be seen in the viral videos which circulated a couple of months ago, which showed the traditionally pro-Assadist Druze villages of Hader calling to join the Israeli Golan shortly after the fall of the regime.
“The Druze question will remain relevant for a long time,” Levanoni added. “But history tells us that the Druze have always known how to manage their affairs, maintain their safety and advance the best interests of their community,” he concluded.
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