As a follow-up to my post on the ongoing negotiations and discussions between the new Syrian government and notables and factions of the primarily Druze province of al-Suwayda’, I present the following guest post written by Samir Olabi (Abu Mazen), who serves as a political advisor for the local faction Faz‘at Fakhr, which characterises itself as acting under the directives of Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri. Samir discusses the relationship of the Druze community with Syria and the current grievances and demands.
Translation:
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful, and there is no granting of success except through God the Exalted and Lofty.
The national line of us Druze monotheists is well-known: our identity is Syrian and we are an indivisible part of Syria and we live on one level with all the sects. We don’t distinguish between any of the components of Syria and we wish to live with our dignity and with others in a relationship of peace, truth, justice and honesty. Likewise we do not wish to attack anyone and likewise we don’t wish for anyone to attack us, and there is no project for separatism from our motherland of Syria.
Our demand is clear and frank: we want to live with dignity and it is our right for us to have a share in Syria’s resources because we are Syrian citizens who have roots in this land, and we are not mercenaries.
However, we have a number of demands that are like the demands of the Syrian people: we are against one colour or the extremist takfiri project or cancellation or marginalisation of anyone. Our demand is clear: with regards to us Druze monotheists, we have our religious rituals and we respect all religions, and we only believe that there is no deity but God and that Muhammad is God’s Messenger. We do not differ in worship, but the extremists want to declare takfir on us and persecute us as minorities, and we reject the idea that we should not have joint decision making in our liberation. We brought forth martyrs to liberate Syria from oppression and tyranny, and we rejected forced conscription so that we should not become involved in sectarian war. We were part of preventing the liberation and victory from becoming lost.
Thus, our demand is clear and frank: we want to live with dignity and it is our right for us to have a share in Syria’s resources because we are Syrian citizens who have roots in this land, and we are not mercenaries. Our primary disagreement with the current government is that it monopolises opinion and makes appointments from one colour, while cutting the salaries of state employees and arbitrarily dismissing people on the pretext of being remnants of the former regime. The second disagreement concerns the fact that a Syrian army is being built from all the Arab and Islamic jihadist nationalities, and we cannot participate in a military structure with non-Syrian mujahidin, for we are Syrians and our land is Syria. But as we observe and as Arab and international opinion observes, Syria has become a refuge for extremist ideological terrorism, and we condemn the indiscriminate massacres against the Alawite sect. There should be law, justice and a state. We are not supposed to be living in the law of a backwards jungle, and our loyalty is to God first and to the homeland. We as monotheist Druze are bound by relations with the Druze of Palestine and by one creed, and they have grace in our eyes because of the financial and humanitarian help they have offered, just as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey help the Sunni component.
We seek the permanent unification of ranks and we are overseers of peace and affection, and we seek the restructuring of the Syrian army composed of the people of the homeland only, as well as a constitution that stipulates respect for and protection of the Syrian people, freedom of worship for all sects, and respecting the privacy of others and respecting their creeds. We also seek designation of financial sums for projects in al-Suwayda’ province, so that there is no forced displacement because of the very bad economic situation that has arisen because of the wars fought on Syria’s land.
