Clashes in Sweida: Salam and Joumblatt urge 'restraint' in Lebanon
According to the Grand Serail, Salam and Joumblatt insisted on the importance "of preserving Syria's unity and promoting understanding among all its citizens under the authority of the Syrian state." They also underscored "the need, in Lebanon, to act with wisdom and restraint, and to avoid reactions likely to trigger internal tensions among citizens of the same country."
The head of government also praised the efforts undertaken by the Druze leader to "prevent any internal incident that threatens the country's stability and the restoration of state authority, which remains the reference point for all Lebanese."
The clashes in Sweida have left more than 350 dead since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The violence broke out between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, prompting government forces to intervene in support of the latter and to deploy in the city.
On Wednesday night, a new cease-fire was declared and government forces withdrew from the region, following in particular a series of heavy Israeli strikes on Damascus and southern Syria. Israel said it conducted the strike to support the Druze.
In the aftermath, in Lebanon, former Lebanese minister Wi'am Wahhab, head of the Druze Tawhid Party, announced Tuesday the creation of a new armed formation called the "Tawhid Army," calling for "armed resistance." On Wednesday, Salam had already called on the Lebanese to "steer clear of discord and prioritize the supreme national interest," after an altercation broke out between several youths and a man dressed in traditional Druze attire in the village of Marj, in the Bekaa.
Solidarity gatherings with the Druze of Sweida took place Wednesday in the Bekaa and other regions of the country, while in the afternoon dozens gathered for a sit-in in Tripoli's al-Nour Square in support of the Damascus regime and to condemn the Israeli bombings.
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L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Syria: Hope in ashes
On the morning of Sunday, July 20, after several sleepless hours — as has been the case for many nights now — I learned of the death of my great-uncle, Hayel Kontar. Hayel was 82 years old. He had spent his life in Sweida, where he worked for the Red Crescent. An educated, cultured man, he was respected by all for his kindness and humanity. He was killed by Islamists of Syria's new regime, solely because he was Druze. I have lost count of the deaths in my family. So far, the toll has already passed 15, and it is still impossible to know the true number of victims of this barbaric invasion launched against the Druze-majority province. Sweida lies in devastation. Every town and village — about 30 — crossed by the army and militias linked to Damascus, has been set on fire. Residents who did not flee were massacred. In my village, Dama, in the Lajah region, homes were looted, then torched one after another. One of the fighters even filmed the scene, posting a video in which he can be heard rejoicing: 'All the Druze houses in Dama are burning.' The death toll remains impossible to determine. There is no water, electricity, fuel or functioning hospital. Sweida's main hospital is out of service. Corpses piled in body bags line the streets. The so-called "valiant" army of Sharaa looted supermarkets before setting them on fire. The city has only a few days' worth of food left. Vehicles that were not stolen have been burned, making any movement nearly impossible. The ravaged towns have been abandoned, cut off from the world. Relief efforts cannot be coordinated. Residents organize however they can, discovering the horror as they gradually regain a foothold in the neighborhoods that had been occupied by government forces. Among the atrocities recorded is the massacre of the family of Khaled Mazhar, head of the Evangelical Church of the Good Shepherd in Sweida. He, his brothers, their children — 20 people in all — were executed in their home. Why this bloodbath? Buoyed by the lifting of sanctions, and by the removal of his name from the U.S. terrorism list, the interim president wanted to assert his authority by brute force in Sweida, as he had in Idlib: by crushing all political and social forces. In talks with Israel for a peace treaty, and with his international legitimacy strengthened, he felt the time was ripe to bring the Druze province under control by force. He exploited the recurrent tensions between Druze and Bedouins — tensions usually settled through mediation by local elders — to send his army on the pretext of intervention. This tragedy reveals above all the mindset animating Syria's new rulers. To the new masters of Damascus and their supporters, who always refer to the Islamic era of the Umayyads, the minority's son, even if national and 'honorable,' is only a dhimmi, who should only speak to thank the wisdom of the regime that allows him to live on his land. But if he demands equal rights, then he becomes a traitor, a foreign agent. This ideology comes through in statements by regime supporters: to them, the nation is synonymous with the Sunni majority. Minorities are merely tolerated, and this tolerance is presented as evidence of openness, even generosity. The current phase of the transitional regime is nothing more than a demand for forced allegiance (al-mubaayaa) to President Sharaa. It is with this sectarian vision of Syria that Sharaa sent in his troops, made up exclusively of former Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadists and rebel fighters once affiliated with Turkey, to invade Sweida. The bloodbath we're witnessing today was, unfortunately, predictable. And why? To impose his power on a province whose sole wealth is its educated population and its diaspora. Sweida has neither oil nor gas nor vital infrastructure. All government offices are already under the authority of Damascus' ministries. If residents refused the entry of security forces, it was because of the crimes committed on the coast last March against the Alawite minority, and the abuses suffered by the Druze in April and May, following the spread of a fake recording in which a Druze sheikh allegedly insulted the Prophet. It was probably the impunity for these earlier massacres that convinced the interim president that the invasion of Sweida would provoke little reaction. But these events deeply shocked the entire Druze community, who no longer wished to see those with blood on their hands inside their province. Upon arrival, regime troops targeted the men's beards and mustaches — an act of extreme humiliation — before massacring them. The trampling of Sultan Basha al-Atrash's portrait as troops entered Sweida is a powerful symbol. Al-Atrash, a hero of the Syrian revolt against the French mandate, embodies the Druze's belonging to the Syrian nation. By trampling this symbol, the new regime marks a rupture with post-independence Syria. They wish to rebuild a new Syrian identity fashioned after themselves: exclusive, homogeneous and authoritarian. The regime and its supporters are in total denial regarding the massacre that occurred. They shift the blame onto Sheikh al-Hijri and onto abuses committed by certain Druze militias against the region's Bedouins, forgetting that there can be no equivalence between the crimes of militiamen and those, based on religious criteria, perpetrated by a regular army meant to protect all citizens. Al-Hijri, a controversial Druze religious leader for his ties with Israeli Druze, has become the pretext for a widespread hate campaign against an entire community. From the regime's inner circle to influencers on social media, he is labeled a Zionist agent, a claim his accusers say justifies the subsequent massacres. The rupture is now total. How can these wounds heal? The gaping wounds inflicted on Syrian society by this invasion weigh heavily on me. Millions of us placed our hope in this transitional president, in the euphoria that followed Assad's downfall. Hope had swept across all Syrians, and I myself quickly called on the European Parliament to lift economic sanctions against the country. We wanted to open up to this new regime to heal the country's wounds and rebuild what Assad had destroyed. Nearly 14 years of struggle against tyranny led me, like many others, to extend a hand to the transitional president. The conclusion today is grim. The interim president chose to stoke the most primal instincts of society, encouraging a communal war waged by Arab tribes against the Druze. Thursday, July 24, as the province of Sweida continued to agonize, Sharaa inaugurated projects as fanciful as they are unrealistic — like a media city estimated at $1.5 billion and an amusement park at $400 million — with a Saudi delegation, solely to make a starving population believe the future is bright. How can those who experienced Assad's sieges of Homs, Aleppo or Deraa now use the same methods against other Syrians? How could this government possibly heal a country wounded by 14 years of war, which Assad made sectarian, if it adopts these same mechanisms of division and hatred? Between 1,000 and 2,000 Syrians of all faiths have died in recent days. It's a national tragedy, just as the massacres on the coast were in March. Not acting accordingly is to plunge the country into a new cycle of violence. It would take a miracle for hope to be reborn in Syria. A miracle in which the current president would renounce absolute power, and his clan's grip on the security, judicial and economic institutions. A miracle to establish a new social contract based on equal rights for all Syrians, regardless of religion or belief. A miracle that would make it possible to rebuild a Syrian identity that is inclusive, based on everyone's agreement. A miracle in which those in power would understand that decentralizing the country is not a betrayal, but a way to save Syria. But is such a miracle possible? Is someone who sends his extremist troops to "liberate" a province from its inhabitants even capable of it? The answer is in the question. This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour.
L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Salam briefs Berri on the outcomes of his visit to France
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Saturday in Ain al-Tineh to discuss the outcome of his recent visit to Paris, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). 'President Salam briefed Nabih Berri on the results of his official visit to Paris and his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, which reaffirmed France's support for Lebanon across various sectors, as well as its commitment to renewing the mandate of UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, to help preserve stability in the South,' the agency reported. Berri and Salam also discussed 'reformist draft laws submitted by the government to Parliament, notably the bill on judicial independence and the one on restructuring the banking sector.' During Salam's visit to Paris on Thursday — his first since taking office — President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the need to continue implementing reforms in order to hold an international conference to support Lebanon and mobilize the necessary aid for reconstruction. He also announced that France would contribute €75 million (approximately $88.16 million) to the Lebanon Emergency Assistance Program (LEAP) set up by the World Bank.
L'Orient-Le Jour
an hour ago
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Syrian delegation met with Israeli officials in Paris
A Syrian delegation, composed of officials from the Foreign Ministry and Intelligence Services, met with Israeli officials in Paris during a U.S.-mediated meeting to discuss recent security developments and efforts to contain the escalation in southern Syria, Reuters reported Saturday, citing a diplomatic source interviewed by Syria's state-run Ekhbariya TV. According to Reuters, the Syrian delegation rejected any 'illegitimate' foreign presence on Syrian territory. While the meeting did not result in any final agreement, the parties agreed to hold further discussions in the coming days to evaluate steps for maintaining stability in southern Syria. French and Syrian foreign ministers Jean-Noel Barrot and Assaad al-Chibani, along with U.S. envoy for Syria Tom Barrack, also met Friday in Paris to discuss the situation in the country. Syria, now governed by the transitional authorities led by Islamist Ahmad al-Sharaa — who took power following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 — continues to experience frequent intercommunal violence. The most recent clashes between Druze and Sunni Bedouin communities left more than 1,300 people dead between July 13 and 20 in the south. Relations between the transitional government and various minority groups remain a concern for parts of the international community.
