Israeli President, Rivlin expresses concern for Syria’s Druze/Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab calls for Druze force to fight Syria rebels after massacre
Israeli President, Rivlin expresses concern for Syria’s Druze in meeting with US military chief Reuters/Ynetnews/Published: 06.10.15/ Israel News
Druze in Syrian Golan are in danger from Islamic State, Nusra Front, who consider them heretics. President Reuven Rivlin expressed his concern to the United States on Wednesday about the fate of the Druze minority in Syria, saying around 500,000 of them were under threat from Islamist militants in an area near the Israeli border. Israel’s Druze, some of whom have reached the senior echelons of Israel’s military and the government, have been calling for help on behalf of their brethren in Syria, both at home and abroad. “What is going on just now is intimidation and threat to the very existence of half a million Druze on the Mount of Druze which is very close to the Israeli border,” Rivlin said after a meeting with General Martin Dempsey, the US military’s top officer. The southern region near the border with Jordan and Israel is one of the areas where President Bashar Assad has recently lost ground to insurgents in the civil war. Groups active in the south include the non-jihadist rebels of the ‘Southern Front’ and al-Qaeda’s Syrian arm, the Nusra Front. Islamic State has also been targeting Syrian army positions in Sweida province, the Druze heartland.
Members of the Druze sect, an off-shoot of Islam, are spread across Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Israel and Syria. The puritanical school of Sunni Islam espoused by al-Qaeda and Islamic State views the Druze as heretics. A US official said arming the Druze did not come up in Dempsey’s discussions in Israel, although Syria had topped the agenda. “It’s the Druze who are asking everyone to arm the Druze. The Druze of Israel have been raising it with Israel, with the US, with Jordan – everyone,” the official said. The Druze have historically professed loyalty to local rulers and in Syria have backed the family of President Bashar Assad in his war against the rebels, both non-jihadist and Islamist. Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has urged the Druze in southern Syria to become allies with other communities in order to protect themselves. Only “reconciliation with the people of Houran” – a reference to areas where rebel groups captured a major base from the Syrian military on Tuesday – could protect them from “dangers”, he said on Twitter. Mainstream Syrian rebel groups said on Wednesday they had launched an offensive on the military airport of Thalaa, west of Sweida, which they say government forces use to bomb villages and towns across rebel-controlled areas in the south.
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.
