Druze leader Walid Joumblatt has accused Israel of using the Druze in Syria by increasing outreach to this minority as part of a broader plan, which, according to him, aims to attempt to divide the Middle East into sectarian states.
"Israel continues to pursue its longstanding plan... of dividing the region into confessional entities and spreading chaos," he stated in an interview with AFP on Wednesday.
"They want to annihilate Gaza, and then it will be the turn of the West Bank (...), they are trying to destabilize Syria through the Druze and others as well," he added, denouncing "a dangerous game."
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's government in Damascus on December 8 after more than 13 years of civil war, Israel sent troops into a demilitarized buffer zone in the Golan Heights, in southwestern Syria, and has been attempting to carve out territory.
In Sweida, a province in southern Syria where the Druze are concentrated, Israel has taken several steps of outreach. They have sent humanitarian aid through Israeli Druze, and allowed religious dignitaries to visit Israel on March 15 despite the state of war between the two countries.
In early March, after skirmishes in a Druze and Christian-majority suburb of Damascus, Israel threatened military intervention if the new Syrian authorities targeted the Druze.
These comments were immediately rejected by Druze dignitaries, who reaffirmed their commitment to Syrian unity. Their representatives are in talks with the central government in Damascus to reach an agreement that would include integrating their armed groups into the future national Army.
The negotiations were on the verge of success, but "Israeli pressures" on certain parties prevented the finalization of an agreement, an AFP source close to the talks, who wished to remain anonymous, said.
‘Support for Chareh’
Walid Joumblatt reminded that under the French mandate, about a hundred years ago, "Syria was divided into four entities: an Alawite state, a Druze state, the State of Damascus and the State of Aleppo," both Sunni.
"The Druze, along with other Syrian nationalists, managed to prevent Syria’s division by launching a revolt against the mandatory power, and the project failed after a few years," he continued.
Joumblatt expressed hope that Syria, which the civil war has fragmented into spheres of influence, "could avoid division today."
"We must support Ahmad al-Sharaa," the new Syrian leader, he called out to Arab leaders.
The Druze leader was the first Lebanese official to visit Syria in December to meet with its new leader, who assured him that his country would no longer exert "a negative influence" on neighboring Lebanon.
The Murderer of Kamal Joumblatt
Commenting on the arrest of his father’s murderer, a general from the former Syrian Army, by the new authorities in Damascus, he said he would not seek his extradition.
Ibrahim Houweija, former head of air force intelligence in Syria, was arrested on March 6 in northwestern Syria.
"He is a major criminal; he has also committed crimes against the Syrian people and must be tried in Syria," said Walid Joumblatt.
A key figure in Lebanese politics for nearly 45 years, the Druze leader also said that the new Lebanese authorities are under pressure following the end of the deadly war between Hezbollah, supported by Iran, and Israel.
"The Americans want Lebanon to normalize its relations with Israel," he suggested, stating that Washington "will not provide assistance to the Lebanese Army" until Hezbollah is disarmed and normalization occurs.
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