Killings of Syrian Druze draws wide condemnation Wassim Mroueh/The Daily Star/Jun. 12, 2015
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Druze Spiritual Council will hold an emergency session Friday to draw up a response to the killing of 20 community members in northwest Syria by the Al-Qaeda affiliate, a massacre which sparked widespread condemnation. Speaking to The Daily Star Thursday, ministerial sources from the Progressive Socialist Party said MP Walid Jumblatt would announce the outcome of the meeting which will convene in the Druze Sect House in Verdun in the afternoon. The Nusra Front killed at least 20 Druze civilians in the village of Qalb Lozeh Wednesday, in the Jabal al-Summaq region of the northwest province of Idlib.
The attack was the deadliest yet to target the sect, which has been split between supporters and opponents of the regime since the Syrian crisis began in March 2011. Jumblatt, Lebanon’s most influential Druze leader, has warned against incitement. “Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad’s policies pushed Syria into this chaos,” he wrote on Twitter. Jumblatt, who backs the Syrian opposition, also called for reconciliation between the Druze and Sunnis of the southern Deraa province. In August, Druze villagers from the southern province of Swaida fought deadly clashes with Nusra-backed Bedouins from nearby Deraa. Jumblatt received phone calls condemning the massacre from Speaker Nabih Berri, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, former Prime Minister Fouad Sinora and Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian.
The PSP said in a statement late Wednesday that contacts Jumblatt has made with Syrian opposition groups and regional powers have led to joint efforts to protect residents of the Druze villages in Idlib, who it said have supported the Syrian revolution from the start. The statement also said that reports that the residents of Qalb Lozeh were slaughtered by Nusra were baseless. It alleged that the killings were part of a dispute between people from the village and Nusra militants, who tried to enter the house of a man they considered pro-regime. The incident then degenerated into violence.
Berri condemned Wednesday’s killings in a phone call to Druze Spiritual leader Sheikh Naim Hasan and a series of Lebanese Druze figures including Jumblatt, MP Talal Arslan, former Minister Wi’am Wahhab, and former MP Faisal Dawoud.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that Qalb Lozeh’s “savage crime” represented “blatant aggression against a major component of the brotherly Syrian people, and showed once again the savagery of the forces of darkness.”
Hariri also condemned the Qalb Lozeh massacre. “The worst [situation] the Syrian revolution could fall into, is [for rebels] to volunteer in combat missions that have no goal but to offer free services to the Bashar Assad regime,” he said in a statement.’
“The incidents that took place in the village of Qalb Lozeh in Idlib province are a serious example of the outrageous behavior that harms the Syrians, their revolution and their victories, and gives the regime and its followers an opportunity to exploit the mistakes of part of the opposition.” Hariri called on members of the Druze community “to follow the noble patriotic stance” of Jumblatt, “who has been warning for years against the attempts of the Syrian regime to draw sects and communities into its senseless wars, using them as human shields to defend its political entity.”Hezbollah also strongly condemned the “savage crime” committed by Nusra Front “gangs.”
“Patience and unity are required more than ever before in this difficult time, in the face of projects to instigate divisions between people of the same country,” read a statement released by the party.“Was it expected that these terrorist, deviant groups, who have links with the enemies of the nation, will have an attitude different than this one, which stems from a doctrine based on killing and bloodshed?”Sheikh Hasan condemned the killings in Idlib, calling for “awareness and responsibility to avoid the repetition of such incidents,” and said the Druze should not to respond to attempts at incitement.Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea also denounced the killings. “The regional states supporting the Syrian opposition should intervene to set limits for groups taking such action,” he said.
But Wahhab, an ally of Assad, urged members of the community in Syria to create an armed force to defend themselves. “[The Druze in Syria] are ready to defeat the terrorists, but what they lack is arms. Lebanon’s Druze are ready to help, we are ready to form an army of 200,000 fighters to defend the Druze,” Wahhab said in a televised speech, urging Assad to provide arms to the community. He also threatened the Nusra Front and its allies who have attacked the Druze in Syria.“The people of Deraa are our brothers; my problem is with the criminal foreigners who came to Syria. Anyone who deals with the Nusra Front is unwelcome in Lebanon … Whoever kills us in Idlib, we will kill him in Lebanon. We will not allow any Nusra Front member to stay.”
Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab calls for Druze force to fight Syria rebels after massacre
The Daily Star/June 11, 2015
BEIRUT: Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab Thursday urged Druze to form an armed force to defend themselves after at least 20 members of their community were killed by Nusra Front militants in northwest Syria. “We will not accept to sell Druze blood!” Wahhab, a former minister, said in an angry televised speech. “[The Druze in Syria] are ready to defeat the terrorists, but what they lack is arms. Lebanon’s Druze are ready to help, we are ready to form an army of 200 fighters to defend the Druze.” Wahhab’s comments come one day after at least 20 Druze men and women were killed by militants from Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in the village of Qalb Lawzah, in Idlib province.
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, who is politically opposed to Wahhab and staunchly supports Syria’s rebels, said a Druze religious council would hold and emergency meeting Friday on the incident. “Any inciting rhetoric will not be beneficial, and you should remember that Bashar Assad’s policies pushed Syria into this chaos,” Jumblatt wrote on Twitter. Jumblatt also called for reconciliation between the Druze and the Sunni communities in the southern Deraa province. In August, Druze villagers from the southern province of Swaida fought deadly clashes with Nusra-backed Bedouins from nearby Deraa. Jumblatt has since intensified his anti-Assad stance, calling on Druze to join Syria’s rebels.
In his Twitter remarks Thursday, Jumblatt cautioned political figures against attacking the rebels, fearing that criticism of their actions would lead to more violence against Druze in Idlib.But Wahhab lashed out at the Nusra Front and its allies who attack Druze in Syria’s northwestern and southern regions. “The people of Deraa are our brothers, but my problem is with the criminal foreigners who came to Syria,” he said. “Anyone who deals with the Nusra Front is unwelcome in Lebanon… Whoever kills us in Idlib, we will kill him in Lebanon. We will not allow any Nusra Front member to stay.” Wahhab called on Assad to arm Druze communities in Syria, especially those of Swaida. “Swaida needs weapons, and the Syrian state is responsible for any delay in armament,” Wahhab said. “The Druze only need the weapons, training and organization,” he added, calling for creating an operations room in Swaida, and underlining the readiness to send fighters from Lebanon. A longtime supporter of Syria’s government, Wahhab said Druze should belong to the “axis of resistance” to protect themselves. “You have men amongst you. Head for the arms. Only arms can protect you, and not silly words and statements,” he said. “You have carried swords to defend yourselves for hundreds of years, now I ask you to carry rifles.”
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri offered his condolences to the victims of Wednesday’s killings in a phone call with Druze spiritual leader in Lebanon Naim Hassan. Hassan, who thanked Berri for his message, underlined the importance of avoiding violence, according to a statement by his media office.
Israel’s Druze dilemma: To arm imperiled Syrian Druze community or open door to a flood of refugees
DEBKAfile Special Report June 11, 2015
Israel has a unique, historic commitment to its Druze citizens and so the dangers besetting more than half a million of their Syrian brethren on Jabal Druze, 88 km from its border, and 38 km from Jordan, confronts the Netanyahu government with a grave dilemma. Israeli Druze leaders are pressing the government to provide Jabal Druze towns and villages with weapons for their defense against the enemies closing in on them: The Syrian-Hizballah army; the Syrian opposition coalition including the Nusra Front – now in control of large parts of southern Syria; and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ISIS, which has sent a small force up to the eastern approaches to the mountain.
At a reception for the visiting Chairman of the Joint US Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey Wednesday, June 10, President Reuven Rivlin said: What is going on just now is intimidation and threat to the very existence of half a million Druze on the Druze Mount, which is very close to the Israeli border.”
Officials in the Pentagon denied that this issue had come up in Gen. Dempsey’s talks during his farewell visit to Israel this week, although Syria had been discussed. One official remarked: “It’s the Druze who are asking everyone to arm them. The Druze in Israel have been raising it with Israel with the US, with Jordan – everyone.”
debkafile’s military sources note that this dilemma is the hardest Israel has faced since the Syrian conflict began more than four years ago. Sending arms to the Syrian Druze would mean abandoning the consistent policy of abstaining from direct involvement in that war. It would moreover entail setting up new machinery for establishing, training and arming a Druze army of 20,000 to 30,000 fighting men. But by withholding support, Israel would make itself responsible for whatever befalls the beleaguered Syrian Druze community, including possibly mass executions by Islamic extremists for their unique faith. Also taken into account is the proposal Tehran, Damascus and Hizballah put before the Druzes this week: to build them an army and provide it with weapons, against a pledge never to raise arms against Syrian President Bashar Assad or his troops.
No other strings were tied to the offer. The Druze army would not be given any tasks other than to defend Jabal Druze and its hundreds of small towns and villages.
Druze acceptance of Tehran’s proposition would have the effect of strengthening Iran’s hold on Damascus and weakening the Syrian opposition forces fighting in the south, with no guarantees about where this equation would end up in terms of new threats to Israeli security.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott, are being intensely lobbied by the leaders of Israel’s Druze community, some of them high-ranking officers in IDF and Border Police units, to come to the aid of their distressed Syrian brethren. They hold up their valuable contribution to the Jewish state’s national security as deserving of Israel’s reciprocation to step up when their community is in peril. No one is saying this, but the awareness is there that the many Druzes serving in Israeli combat units may decide to simply cross the Golan border and take up arms in defense of Jabal Druze. The Syria community’s plight is complicated by the sharp internal division among its leaders: One group urges taking up the Iranian offer; a second would rather join forces with the Syrian rebels; and a third, wants to stick to their long-held neutrality in the Syrian arena. The Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, once accepted as such by the entire community, urges Jabal Druze inhabitants to throw in their lot with the rebel groups fighting to topple Assad. Some Druze sources claim that Israel has promised admission to any fleeing Druze reaching the Golan border fence, an assurance also offered by Jordan. This is not confirmed by any official in either government. However, it is hard to see how Israel can bar its border if thousands of Druze refugees were to stand at the fence and demand shelter – any more than Jordan could. This may still happen – even if Jerusalem and Amman were to decide to supply the Syrian Druzes with weapons.
Al-Qaida Syria Affiliate Kills 20 Druze
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 11/15/At least 20 members of Syria’s Druze minority have been killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with Al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front in northwestern Syria, a monitor said on Thursday.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths came Wednesday in the village of Qalb Lawzah in Idlib province, most of which is now controlled by an alliance including Al-Nusra. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said villagers had protested after a Tunisian Al-Nusra leader “tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Lawzah, claiming he was loyal to the regime.” “Relatives of the owner of the house protested and tried to stop him, then there was an altercation and shooting,” he added. “The Tunisian leader brought his men and accused the Druze residents of the village of blasphemy and opened fire on them killing at least 20 people, among them elderly people and at least one child.” Abdel Rahman said some of the villagers had weapons and returned fire, killing three members of Al-Nusra. The Druze deaths were reported by Syria’s official SANA news agency, which accused Al-Nusra and allied Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham of an “appalling massacre committed against the people of Qalb Lawzah that claimed the lives of at least 30 people.” Quoting local sources, SANA said the dead included five members of a single family, three clerics and two women.
The agency also said the “terrorists… looted and burned dozens of homes.”The Druze, followers of a secretive offshoot of Shiite Islam, made up around three percent of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million people. They are concentrated mostly in the southern province of Sweida, the only Druze-majority region of Syria, but there are several Druze villages through other parts of the country, including in Idlib. The community has been somewhat divided during the country’s uprising, with portions fighting alongside the government, but some parts expressing sympathy for the opposition. Mostly, the Druze have taken up arms only in defense of their areas, and have kept out of the fighting more broadly. The head of the Druze community in neighboring Lebanon, MP Walid Jumblat, is however a vocal opponent of President Bashar Assad’s regime. Writing on his official Twitter account on Thursday, he said contacts were underway to “calm the situation” after the deaths in Qalb Lawzah, without specifying further..
