The Druze leader aims to secure a place for Syria’s minorities
As Western diplomats explore establishing ties with the rebels who have seized power in Syria, the religious minority is conducting its own diplomatic effort to secure protection for its members as the country rebuilds.
The group’s representative, Druse, recently traveled to Washington to meet with lawmakers, members of the Biden and Trump administrations and diplomats to plead his case.
“We are very concerned about the future,” Sheikh Muwafaq Tarif said in an interview in Washington, where he urged US officials to prioritize protection for Syria’s 1.2 million Dru as part of their engagement with the country’s new government.
In December, after a long civil war, a coalition of Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad and installed an interim government. The uprising ended a brutal regime, but a problem remains for Western nations: the Islamist group that led the uprising was once linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and as a result has been officially designated a terrorist organization.
Rebel leaders have renounced their old alliances and vowed to build a Syria that is tolerant of other beliefs. And Western officials, eager to begin reconstruction, have expressed their openness to cooperation with the Islamist group now in power, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
But members of Syria’s minority groups such as the Druze, who practice a branch of Shia Islam that can also be found in Lebanon, Israel and Jordan, remain skeptical. The spiritual leader of the Druze in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, expressed caution in a recent interview with a German television company about the promises of tolerance offered by Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Shara.
Sheikh Tarif, his counterpart in Israel, suggested that Mr. al-Shara had not acted quickly enough.
“He speaks beautifully,” said Sheikh Tarif. “What I’m hearing is that the West is excited and they like what he’s saying. But there is a lot of fear among minorities. We want statements to be backed up with actions.”
Mr. al-Shara has he tried to distance himself from his group’s jihadist roots, promising to draft a new constitution, expressing relatively moderate political views and seeking to appease Syria’s minorities. In the Sweida district in the south, for example, there was a Druse woman the recently appointed governor.
But some observers suggested that Mr. al-Shara may have been involved in mere pretense to open the flow of foreign aid. There are already some moves made by his new government — e.g comprehensive changes to textbooks — have raised concerns in Syria over his professed commitment to religious diversity.
Sheikh Tarif said that in his meetings with Western officials, he pressed for much-needed economic aid to Syria and for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country – but only on the condition that the new government can be proven to fulfill its obligations. He said he was also trying to position the Druze community in Syria and throughout the Middle East as key partners to Western states with the aim of influencing outcomes in the country and the region.
For centuries, the Druze have survived throughout the Middle East by partially integrating politically into the countries they live in, although they have kept their religious practices distinct. In Syria, they played a significant historical role, leading a uprising against French rule 1925, which came to be considered the first nationalist uprising in the country.
“The Druze paid a high price for the independence of Syria,” Sheikh Tarif said.
When the uprising against the Assad regime began in 2011, some Druze joined rebel groups, although community support was mixed, worried that jihadist groups fighting the regime would prove hostile to their beliefs. The Druze fighters participated in the rebel offensive that overthrew Mr. al-Assad.
In Israel, the Druse community of about 150,000 people led by Mr. In recent years, Tarif has protested the adoption of the law by the far-right government marginalizes minorities. “There’s a lot of room for improvement,” he said. But Mr. Tarif dismissed criticism of recent moves by the Israeli military to seize territory in Syria near its border, saying Israel was acting to ensure its own security.
He pointed out that Druse commanders and soldiers lost their lives fighting as members of the Israeli army in the conflicts started by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and recalled the death of 12 young Druse last summer in the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights who were killed by a Hezbollah rocket from Lebanon. .
Given their presence in several nations, Sheikh Tarif said, the Druze see themselves as a potential bridge. “We can show how to live in peace,” he said.