File: Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt shakes hands with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, after the ousting of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 22, 2024. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
A prominent Druze leader in Lebanon said Sunday that he will soon visit Syria to meet its interim leader as tensions simmer between members of the minority group, the war-torn country’s interim government, and Israel.
“The free Syrians must be cautious of the plots of Israel,” veteran Druze leader Walid Jumblatt said at a news conference Sunday, accusing Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of creating sectarian division and chaos in the country. “In Syria, there is a plot for sabotage. There is a plot for sabotage in the region and for the Arabs’ national security.”
Divide and Rule: Israel is reportedly trying to drive a wedge between the Druze community and the new Syrian regime, despite the fact that the Druze community leaders and Syria’s new interim leader are on good terms and working together to improve the living conditions of the Druze in Syria. On the other hand the Druze in occupied Golan are treated like second class citizens
Syrian Druze gunmen have clashed in recent days with government security forces in the city of Jaramana, on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus.
Since the downfall of President Bashar Assad in December, Israel has pushed its forces into southern Syria to create a demilitarized buffer zone. Israel’s defense ministry said Saturday that it was instructing the military to prepare to defend Jaramana and protect the Druze.
File: Thousands of Druze Arab protesters in the occupied Golan Heights were met with Israeli tear gas, sponge-tipped bullets, and a water cannon as they demonstrated against Israel. June 22, 2023. Al Jazeera
In the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida, many who protested against the Assad government in recent years have also protested against Israel’s airstrikes and military push into the country.
Sultan Pasha al-Atrash led a Druze revolt against the French mandate in Syria from 1925 to 1927. The revolt, known as the Great Syrian Revolt, was one of the most significant uprisings against the French in Syria.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century . About half of the roughly one million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. A substantial number of Druze also emigrated to Australia, Canada Europe, and the US.
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa (C) is shown with the Drzue officials at the presidential palace in Damascus Feb 25, 2025, SANA
Jumblatt is one of Lebanon’s most prominent political leaders. He is both an outspoken critic of Israel and a supporter of the Palestinians but also spoke out against the Assad dynasty in Syria, who assassinated one of the most prominent Lebanese leaders, his father Kamal Jumblatt in 1977.
He last visited Syria in December, days after a lightning insurgency led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Bashar Assad, and met with interim leader Ahmad al-Sharaa. In 2015 during the Syrian civil war, Jumblatt negotiated with Syrian opposition in Idlib, following reports of persecution and attacks on the Druze who lived in the northwestern province by extremist groups.
AP