Lebanese Writer: Syria's President Al-Sharaa Must Protect The Minorities – Not Blame Israel For The Sectarian Violence In The Country

Memri

2 days ago

Under the shadow of the bloody events in the Druze stronghold of southern Syria, that began July 13, 2025 and involved Druze factions and Bedouin tribes backed by Syria's Al-Sharaa regime, and in which over 1,000 Druze were massacred, Lebanese columnist Khairallah Khairallah called in his July 21, 2025 column in the London-based UAE daily Al-Arab for Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa to prove that he is the president of all Syrians "in deeds and not words." Stressing that the broad international and regional legitimacy enjoyed by his administration does not exempt him from reconciliation with all Syrians, including the Druze, he added that it also does not mean that he need not learn lessons from the harm that has been done to Syria's minorities since he took power.
In his column, Khairallah rejected the Syrian regime's depiction of Israel as responsible for the sectarian tensions in the country. He wrote that Israel's support for the Druze in Syria is more than natural, given that they are part of the Israeli social fabric and serve in the Israeli military, and that Israel has not intervened in other cases of harm to Syrian minorities such as the Alawites or the Christians.
The Syrian people under a cloud of violence (Source: Al-Arab, London, July 17, 2025)
The following is the translation of Khairallah's column:
"...The events in the Syrian province of Al-Suwayda, which has experienced and continues to experience crimes and atrocities against the Druze community, are an opportunity for the new Syrian regime, led by Ahmed Al-Sharaa, to reinvent itself – instead of settling for accusing Israel [of fanning the violence] or turning a blind eye to the attack on the Druze, committed by so-called Bedouin tribes, [if we believe the regime's] claims, which are unsubstantiated, to say the least!
"This is an opportunity for Al-Shara to prove, in deeds and not words, that he is the president of all of Syria and of all the Syrians – and not the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] and its supporters. He can do so by proving that the [new] Syrian state, which has been in existence for just seven months, can be different from the Alawite regime that had existed from 1966...
"There is no way out of the profound crisis in which Syria finds itself unless this young regime takes charge of protecting the Druze, who are first and foremost Syrian citizens. In this realm, Ahmed Al-Sharaa and his aides can learn from recent past experience, and avoid what happened to the Alawites and Christians.
"Last March [2025], the Alawites were slaughtered in the Syrian coastal region, after armed militias suppressed a move they had made to bring up what could be called 'the Alawite issue,' based on the assumption that the world takes an interest in their fate. But it turned out that the Alawites were the world's least concern, and that no one, including Israel, was willing to embrace the cause of a minority that had ruled Syria with an iron fist and with fire for some six decades. The Alawites are now paying the price for the crimes of Hafez and Bashar Al-Assad and other members of their family, who considered Syria nothing more than the ruling family's [private] ranch.
"Israel did not interfere in events in Syria, particularly when they concerned the Alawites and then the Christians. It was clear that the Christians in Syria were the least concern of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government, even though they were massacred by an ISIS fighter inside a church in one of the Damascus neighborhoods.[1] The Syrian officials treated the Christians somewhat contemptuously, considering that they were a minority that played an important role in shaping Syria's history...
"The Christians were the victims of the Egypt-Syria union [i.e., the United Arab Republic, a union of Egypt and Syria that existed in 1958-1961], and later they were the victims of the Ba'ath Party because of its dearth of political thought and its wickedness. [They were also] one of the victims of the Alawite regime, which handed the Golan over to Israel in June 1967 in order to ensure Hafez Al-Assad a monopoly on power after [the 1967 War] and also to ensure that Syria would be inherited by his son Bashar in 2000.
"Ahmed Al-Sharaa received strong American and Western support, for example, meeting with President Donald Trump in Riyadh and visiting Paris. He played the card of the relations with Israel wisely, and at all times hinted at a return to the 1974 [Israeli-Syrian] separation of forces agreement. [2] He disregarded all Israeli attacks aimed at specific Syrian military sites. Moreover, he has established close ties with influential Arab countries, led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He maintained the special relationship with Turkey and did not for one moment take lightly the issue of the Iranian presence in Syria. He took care to emphasize that this presence had ended permanently and that Syria would never again serve as a bridge between the Islamic Republic and its proxy Hizbullah in Lebanon. This great achievement, historic in nature, cannot be spent on marginal battles in which the Druze are required to be the victims.
"Everything that Ahmed Al-Sharaa has done is good. But this does not mean that there is no need for reconciliation with the Syrians – all Syrians, including the Druze, who throughout the state's modern history have played an important and central role on the national level, starting with their rejection of the idea that Syria would include several states, including a Druze state. The Druze had a role in strengthening the Syrian national unity that Hafez Al-Assad, and later his son, tore to shreds, by gambling on an alliance of minorities led by the Alawites in order to confront the Sunni [majority]. The most dangerous thing that the elder and younger Assads did was to use the Islamic Republic of Iran to create a new demographic reality in Syria, and to change the political balance [of power] in Lebanon.
"Yes, Ahmed Al-Sharaa has a chance to prove that he is the president of all of Syria and of all Syrians, without discrimination or distinction. It is easy to blame Israel [for the sectarian violence in the country], but it is difficult to block its interference in Syria's domestic affairs in a sensitive region like Al-Suwayda province. Israel's support for the Druze of Al-Suwayda is more than natural, given that Israeli Druze serve in the Israeli military and given the Druze community's historical role in the Israeli sphere.
"To put it more clearly, Ahmed Al-Sharaa has no choice but to play the role of the historic head of state who leads the people and is not led by them. More important than anything else is the new Syrian president's duty to prove that he is Ahmed Al-Sharaa and not Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani [the name by which he was once known].[3] This requires both great courage and political maturity. Additionally, there is a need to play the role of the national leader who reconciles first with the Sunni moderates, and [then] also with the Druze, Christians, Alawites, and Kurds, of course."[4]