'We've seen this movie with Hamas': Druze Spiritual leader speaks out after violence in Syria
Druze leader Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif said on Thursday that Israeli Druze are distrustful of interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
"It was a mistake to lift the sanctions; he hasn't changed his stripes," Tarif noted.
In light of the ceasefire achieved last night between the Druze and the new regime in Syria, Tarif spoke with Nissim Mashal and Geula Even-Saar on 103FM.
The Druze leader said that even though a ceasefire was reached overnight on Wednesday, Sharaa's forces still raided Druze houses.
"We need to know who we're dealing with. These are beasts," said Tarif. "Al-Julani dresses with a tie and jacket, but his actions are different. They talked about a ceasefire and then continued the massacre, the cleansing, going from house to house. This happened last night until midnight. He says one thing, and these foreign people, these jihadists, do other things."
Syrian forces engage in 'pure cleansing' of Syrian Druze
"What happened in Syria? They raped a five-year-old girl, they entered a holy place where women were hiding to avoid being harmed, and they burned them alive. They killed, beheaded, it was pure cleansing. This is only because they are Druze and do not believe as they do," he stated.
'We've seen this movie with Hamas, they are the same people, let's not get confused. They didn't let ambulances pass; the bodies were in the streets."
The spiritual leader said that until this morning, ambulances weren't allowed to pass to collect the dead. He added that he believes there were thousands of people injured.
"There are hundreds of injured, maybe thousands, and hundreds dead. The bodies are in the streets. They entered the hospital, raped nurses, and killed them along with the injured. It's all documented in videos," he added.
"All the Druze have families there, of course they do. In the previous round, two months ago, several of my family members were killed near Damascus. All the Druze are brothers, no matter where they are, we care for them."
No Israeli Druze remain in Syria
The Sheikh said that, to his knowledge, no Israeli Druze citizens remain in the neighboring country. "As far as I know, everyone has returned. I checked last night, and I don't think anyone stayed. We also called yesterday to avoid crossing into Syria. We should just protest at the border."
He refuted the claim that this is a local conflict between Bedouins and Druze.
"Which Bedouins? This is a setup. Did someone come to calm things down with tanks? With armored vehicles? With snipers?"
"They started taking over village by village. They entered house by house. They looted, stole, left nothing behind. If we had responded in time, this wouldn't have happened," Tarif said.
"We're always warning and speaking out. That morning, we saw the convoys; Israel saw them too. The prime minister, the defense minister, and the army declared that this area would be demilitarized, so how did tank convoys go there, 140 kilometers away, and they let them continue?"
Tarif compared the atrocities from Wednesday to the Holocaust.
"I spoke with the army, until there was immense pressure and shocking images and videos started coming out showing what they're doing. We saw things that the Nazis did with Jewish rabbis, the same thing. To humiliate, certainly. The Sheikh, who is over 80 years old, after they shaved his mustache, they killed him."
He expressed hope that Israel would learn lessons from the recent events.
"When the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister, and the army declared on many occasions that they would not allow harm to come to the Druze, everyone already knew," Tarif said. "We hope they will stand behind this. I spoke with the Prime Minister and the Minister, we sat with the general and the deputy chief of staff, and heard a briefing on what's happening. We should have acted more quickly and decisively.
"Israel did not attack with full force. The tanks, missiles, and mortars, what can a civilian do against them?"
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