Syrian government fighters entered the city of Sweida during the summer in a seemingly suggestion to serve control over the druze minority, which for years had operated in semi -union.
It came back. Sectarian attacks on Druze -Civile during the subsequent battle had Sweida’s attitude against the government, pushed it against Israel and led some in the minority sect to go so far as to call for detachment.
Now, Druz groups have created a de facto military and state body in Sweida, similar to the Kurdish-led authorities in the country’s northeast. It is a major setback for Damascus, who is struggling to exercise his authority across the country after a 13-year civil war and gain support from minorities.
When Train Bashar Assad was down by Islamist -led rebels in December, many druze celebrated, welcoming a new era after 50 years of autocratic rule. They were willing to give temporary President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a took al-Qaeda-bound militant, promising a democratic and inclusive political transition, a chance.
Among them was Omar Al Office, the 21-year-old biology. Then his village outside the city of Sweida was burned to the group in July’s clash.
Now he said, “The main idea is that we have to separate (from Damascus) to take another massacre.”
A de facto druze administration
While many Druze were originally willing to work with the new authorities, the remarkable exception was druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, a divisive figure that had flipped between support for Assad and anti-government protests and is now opposed to dealing with the new government.
In July, armed groups associated with al-Hijri collided with local Bedouina clans and spurred the intervention from the government, which is effectively sitting with the Bedouins. Hoveds of civilians, mostly Druze, were killed, many of the government fighters.
Videos appeared online showing armed men killing Druze Civil, kneeling in squares and shaving barts from older men in a humiliation act.
The sectarian violence changes the mind of many Druze about the new authorities and about al-Hijri, which has emerged as the dominant Druze figure in Syria. In August he established a government -like body called Supreme Legal Council.
Dozens of armed factions originally formed to counter drugs and extremists in the Islamic state group have gathered under the National Guard. Critics say it included training of Assad loyalists and allied militia trade amphetamine known as Captagon. It also included training opponents of al-Hijri, especially the men of dignity, a prominent group that had approved cooperation with Damascus before violence in July.
“We urge all the honorary in the world … to stand with the druze sect in southern Syria to declare a separate region that keeps us protected the end of time,” said al-Hijri in August, after welcoming the dignity men to guard.
Al-Hijri did not respond to requests for interviews, and it is unclear how kind of system he considers.
Many in Sweida want some kind of car in a federal system. A smaller group calls for total partition. Local Druze figures who are still back al-Sharaa are now largely seen as trasors.
The attacks in Sweida sounded “strong alarm bells among Druzen” as well as other minority groups, said Mazen Ezzi, a Syrian researcher from Sweida, now based in Paris.
“Druze realized that to remain part of this new political status quo” under the new authorities “will be extremely difficulty,” he said.
Israel seizes the moment
Most of the approx. 1 million Druze worldwide lives in Syria, with the rest in Lebanon, Israel and the Golan heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and later annexed.
Druzen from Syria is proud of their historical commitment to rebellion against Ottoman and French colonial management to establish a secular, nationalist Syrian state.
Sheikh Mowafak -Tariff, Israel’s druze spiritual leader, was widely rejected by Druze leaders in Syria and Lebanon, who opposed Israel and supported the Palestinians.
But what happened in July is shaken around a century of Syrian Druze political history and driven many against a trained taboo -allized.
When violence broke out in Sweida, the Israeli military intervention urged to protect Druzen. Israel responded and launched strikes on the Syrian government forces and at the Syrian Defense Minister headquarters in Damascus. Syrian forces withdrew from Sweida.
Told Associated Press that he and al-Hijri keep in touch “all the time”, organizing Deliverries of Aid to the besieged province.
Tariff also meets with senior Western politicians and diplomats and has called for a semi -chilitarized Subthern Syria and the establishment of a humanitarian corridor from Israel to provide food and medical supplies to Sweida. Israeli officials have also been pushing for a wider semi -litarized zone in Syria’s south.
Al-Hijri has publicly thanked Israel on several occasions.
The effect on the earth is obvious.
When someone raised an Israeli flag in Sweida in March, residents quickly took it down. Now, at Karama Square, where people were once gathered to celebrate Assad’s downfall, portraits of al-Hijri and appear side by side at Protets against Al-Sharaa. Most people wear Druze Faith’s five -color flags, but some also wav the Israeli flag.
It’s a sign of “a people who feel weakened by their nationalism,” Ezzi said.
Alontam, biology -students, do not believe that Israel’s motives are altruistic, but says its intervention was a lifeline for Mary in Sweid.
“It is not necessary a love for Israel. They felt more confident in the strike, which is very sad,” said Alkontar after a protest on Karama Square. “You want the army of your own government to give you that security, not a foreign country.”
Damascus is struggling to change course
Al-Sharaa has tried to appeal to the Druze community since the July matches and warned that Israel is trying to exploit the tensions.
“Errors were made by all sides: the druze community, the Bedouins, even the state itself,” he said in an interview with the State TV. “Everyone who has committed wrongdoing made mistakes or violated people’s rights must be held responsible.”
The president then formed a fact-time mission. Last month, Damascus announced with the United States, and Jordan announced a roadmap to return displaced druze and Bedouins, provide help with Sweida and create reconciliation.
Both movements were widely dismantled in Sweida.
A Sweida resident whose fiancé and members of his family were killed by gunmen who attacked the village accused Damascus of “covering the attacks.” She spoke on condition of anonymity after having received threats to speak before.
“When (Assad) -the regime fell, we were the first people to celebrate … But I think Ahmad al -Sharaa is a murderous extremist,” she said.
Alkontor is dishonest when he passes another long bread line in a small bakery near broken buildings after visiting a displaced family.
He believes that as Druze “could have a change of heart … if the government changes its ways and empty a hand.” But many will not.
“As long as this government in Damascus remains, people will lean against partition or independence,” said Alkontar. “I prefer we will remain part of Syria without this reigning group. But as long as they are, I am not now if even federalism will keep us safe.”
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Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.