Damascus (EFE).- Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced Thursday the success of efforts to stem the outbreak of violence in the southern province of Al-Suwayda, whose security would now be left in the hands of local factions and religious leaders.
This would not have happened “without the effective intervention of American, Arab, and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate,” he added.
Al-Sharaa said that the security of Al-Suwayda would now be left in the hands of local factions and religious leaders, after the arrival of government forces to take over those tasks sparked intense clashes with local groups on Tuesday.
In the midst of all this, Israel decided to bomb Syrian institutional and military targets claiming it did so to protect the Druze factions of Al-Suwayda, which significantly complicated the situation and led to a widespread escalation, according to the Syrian president.
“We faced two options: open war with Israel at the expense of our Druze citizens and national stability—or empowering Druze leaders and community figures to prioritize unity over division,” he said.
Following the successful dialogue, in his first remarks since the outbreak of violence in the south of the country on Sunday, the Syrian president accused Israel of seeking to drag them into a conflict and sow internal divisions in Syria.
“State efforts to restore stability and expel outlaw factions have succeeded,” the president said in a televised address.
“We are the sons of this land. We know who is trying to drag us into war, who aims to divide us. Syria is not a testing ground for foreign conspiracies nor a field for others’ ambitions at the cost of our blood,” he said.
The Syrian president also took the opportunity to emphasize that the Druze minority was an integral part of the country and expressed his rejection of any attempt at internal fragmentation aimed at bringing this religious community closer to an external party, referring to Israel.
The Jewish state, which administers the occupied Syrian Golan Heights since 1967, with thousands of Druze among its population, justified its intervention as a defense of that minority and an effort to prevent the presence of Syrian troops in Al-Suwayda, not far from the common border.
Al-Sharaa also pledged to punish those who committed abuses against the Druze community during the clashes, after local activists and organizations reported a series of extrajudicial killings by suspected military personnel.
“The Druze are under the protection of the state. The law and justice guarantee everyone’s rights, without exception,” the leader concluded. EFE
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