As Western diplomats discover establishing ties with the rebels who took energy in Syria, a spiritual minority has been conducting its personal diplomatic push to make sure protections for its members because the nation rebuilds.
A consultant of the group, the Druse, just lately went to Washington to satisfy with lawmakers, members of the Biden and Trump administrations and diplomats to plead their case.
“We’re very apprehensive in regards to the future,” Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif stated in an interview in Washington, the place he urged U.S. officers to prioritize protections for Syria’s 1.2 million Druse as a part of their engagement with the nation’s new authorities.
In December, after a protracted civil battle, a coalition of Syrian rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad and established an interim authorities. The rebel put an finish to a brutal regime, however for Western nations there remained an issue: The Islamist group that led the rebellion as soon as had ties to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and in consequence was formally designated as a terrorist group.
The insurgent leaders have forsworn their outdated alliances and have pledged to construct a Syria that’s tolerant of different beliefs. And Western officers, looking forward to reconstruction to start, have expressed their openness to working with the Islamist group now in energy, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
However members of Syrian minority teams just like the Druse, who apply an offshoot of Shiite Islam and may also be present in Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, stay skeptical. The non secular chief of the Druse in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, expressed wariness in a latest interview with a German broadcaster over the guarantees of tolerance supplied by Syria’s de facto chief, Ahmad al-Shara.
Sheikh Tarif, his counterpart in Israel, steered that Mr. al-Shara was not shifting shortly sufficient.
“He’s talking properly,” Sheikh Tarif stated. “What I hear is that the West is worked up they usually like what he says. However there’s quite a lot of worry amongst minorities. We wish the statements to be borne out by actions.”
Mr. al-Shara has sought to distance himself from his group’s jihadist roots, promising to draft a brand new structure, expressing comparatively reasonable political positions and looking for to reassure Syria’s minorities. Within the Sweida district within the south, for instance, a Druse girl was recently appointed governor.
However some observers have steered that Mr. al-Shara could also be engaged in mere posturing to open the stream of international assist. Already, some strikes his new authorities has made — like sweeping changes to textbooks — have raised issues inside Syria about his professed dedication to non secular range.
Sheikh Tarif stated that in his conferences with Western officers, he was urgent for much-needed financial help for Syria, and for sanctions imposed on the nation to be lifted — however solely conditioned on proof that the brand new authorities is protecting its commitments. He stated he has additionally been attempting to place the Druse neighborhood in Syria and all through the Center East as key companions for Western nations aiming to affect outcomes within the nation and area.
For hundreds of years, the Druse have survived throughout the Center East partially by integrating politically within the international locations the place they reside, even whereas protecting their non secular practices distinct. In Syria, they’ve performed a major historic function, main a revolt against French rule in 1925 that got here to be seen because the nation’s first nationalist rebellion.
“The Druse paid a excessive worth for Syria’s independence,” Sheikh Tarif stated.
When the rebellion towards the Assad regime started in 2011, some Druse aligned with the insurgent teams, although the neighborhood’s help was blended, with concern that jihadist teams preventing the regime would show hostile to their beliefs. Druse fighters did participate within the insurgent offensive that deposed Mr. al-Assad.
In Israel, the Druse neighborhood of about 150,000 those who Mr. Tarif leads has lately protested the far-right authorities’s adoption of a legislation that marginalizes minorities. “There’s a lot to enhance,” he stated. However Mr. Tarif dismissed criticism of the Israeli navy’s latest strikes to grab territory in Syria close to its border, saying Israel was appearing to make sure it personal safety.
He famous that Druse commanders and troopers had misplaced their lives preventing as members of the Israeli navy within the conflicts set off by the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and recalled the deaths final summer season of 12 younger Druse within the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights who have been killed by a Hezbollah rocket from Lebanon.
Given their presence in a number of nations, Sheikh Tarif stated, the Druse take into account themselves a possible bridge. “We are able to present how you can reside in peace,” he stated.
