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Nahar Net
an hour ago
- Nahar Net
Druze demand self determination, wave Israeli flags in Syria demo
by Naharnet Newsdesk 18 August 2025, 11:25 Hundreds of people demonstrated in Syria's southern city of Sweida and elsewhere on Saturday to demand the right to self determination for the Druze minority, the largest protests to take place since deadly clashes in the area last month. Some of the protesters waved Israeli flags to thank Israel for intervening on their side during heavy clashes in mid-July between Druze militias and armed tribal groups and government forces. Saturday's demonstration comes as Syria grapples with deep ethnic and religious divisions following the collapse of the Assad family rule last December. The transition has proven fragile, with renewed violence erupting in March along the coast and in July in Sweida, a city with a significant Druze population, highlighting the continued threat to peace after years of civil war. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian war monitor, said the protesters expressed their rejection of the interim central government in Damascus and demanded that those responsible for atrocities against Druze be brought to justice. The Observatory said some of the protesters called on Israel to intervene to support their demand of self determination. Rayyan Maarouf, who heads the activist media collective Suwayda 24, said Saturday's demonstration in Sweida was the largest since last months's clashes, and that there were similar gatherings in areas including the nearby towns of Shahba and Salkhad. He added that this is the first time people protested under the slogan of self determination. "This is an unprecedented change for the Druze in Syria," Maarouf told The Associated Press. Clashes erupted on July 13 between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Sweida. Government forces then intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up essentially siding with the Bedouins against the Druze. Israel intervened in defense of the Druze, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in central Damascus. Atrocities were committed during the clashes that left hundreds of people dead. The new interim government set up a committee last month tasked with investigating attacks on civilians in the sectarian violence in the country's south. It is supposed to issue a report within three months. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Over half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most 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.
Ya Libnan
2 hours ago
- Ya Libnan
Lebanon's Druze leader calls for lifting the siege on Syria's Sweida immediately
Lebanon's top Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Al -Aql Dr. Sami Abi Al-Mona, called for immediate 'lifting of the siege on the Sweida governorate, releasing the kidnapped, returning the missing men, women and children, and securing humanitarian corridors, because the siege imposed now is more cruel than killing.' He renewed his call for 'influential countries and humanitarian organizations to exert efforts to lift the siege, and for the bedouin tribes to withdraw outside the borders of Sweida, in implementation of the agreement.' During his reception today, at the Druze headquarters in Beirut he said that 'what happened in Syria is reprehensible and condemned, and our words always confirm our rejection of what happened and is happening to each other. Jabal al-Arab has been nothing but a mountain of jihad, struggle, patriotism and Arabism since before Sultan Pasha al-Atrash and after him. It never offered martyrs and victims for the sake of independence from Syria, but rather for the sake of the independence of all of Syria. According to history, 12 percent of the youth of the mountain were martyred in 1925 for the sake of Syrian unity and affirming the independence and Arabism of Syria. Jebel Al Arab did not offer martyrs for the sake of the independence of the Druze from Syria Sweida province in Southern Syria is referred to Jebel Al Arab ( Mountain of the Arabs ) Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash, a prominent Druze leader, is renowned for leading the Great Syrian Revolt against French Mandate rule in 1925. He mobilized various Syrian nationalists and religious groups, sparking a widespread rebellion that challenged French authority. In July 1925, Sultan Al-Atrash initiated the revolt, fueled by French policies and perceived interference in Druze affairs. Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has mastered the art of saying the right words about Syria's future. He speaks of unity, coexistence, and the protection of minorities. Yet his actions tell a starkly different story. On multiple occasions, Syrian government forces and Sunni rebel factions—bolstered by foreign extremist fighters—have joined hands not to defend Syria's diversity but to assault it. Al-Sharaa's repeated vows to protect minorities have proven to be hollow, feeding fears that his true ambition is to transform Syria into a Sunni-only state. Reports that foreign rebels have been granted Syrian citizenship only deepen this suspicion, suggesting an attempt to alter the demographic balance at the expense of Syria's historic pluralism. Syria's crisis is not unique. History has shown us two possible paths for multi-ethnic, multi-religious states. The first is the tragedy of Yugoslavia . In the 1990s, its leaders failed to build a system that protected all groups equally. Instead, sectarian dominance prevailed, and the country descended into bloody wars that permanently shattered it into fragments. Syria risks the same fate if sectarian rulers continue to impose their vision at the expense of national unity. The second lesson comes from Switzerland . Once plagued by internal wars between Catholics and Protestants, and divided by language and culture, Switzerland avoided collapse by adopting federalism . Each canton was granted local autonomy while remaining part of a unified state. Diversity was not erased—it was protected—and over time became a pillar of stability. Syria now stands at a decisive moment. If it continues down the path of hollow promises and sectarian ambitions, it risks repeating Yugoslavia's destruction. But if it embraces federalism , Syria can secure justice and dignity for all its people—Sunnis, Alawites, Shiites, Christians, Druze, Kurds, and others—while avoiding fragmentation. Federalism is not division. It is the only system capable of holding Syria together by respecting diversity instead of erasing it. It is the framework through which Syrians can live side by side without fear of domination by any single group. The minorities in Syria should not be blamed for seeking outside help since they are facing existential threat .Al-Sharaa should be the one to be blamed According to Gazi Hassan, a Syrian political observer : 'Al-Sharaa's words may soothe, but his actions betray his intent. Syria's future cannot rest on hollow promises. It must rest on a new social contract— federalism—anchored in equality, autonomy, and mutual respect. '
L'Orient-Le Jour
14 hours ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Is Sudan on its way to becoming a hub for captagon trafficking?
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 in Syria, whose regime was accused of running a narco-state at the helm of global captagon production, the spot has become up for grabs. Syrian authorities reportedly destroyed nearly 200 million pills discovered after the Assad clan's collapse, compared to almost 300 million tablets seized in 2023, according to a World Bank studies are still lacking on who has definitively taken over supply — especially to Gulf countries, the main consumers — an increasing number of reports point to new production centers in Sudan. A few laboratories were uncovered and dismantled by Khartoum before April 2023, when civil war erupted between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The war, however, appears to have acted as a catalyst, particularly since Sudan borders the Red Sea across...
