Syrian government boosts national unity with deal for Suweida

The Syrian government has reached an agreement with the residents and elders of Suweida to fully integrate the predominantly Druze province into the institutions of the state, according to reports.

The agreement will see Suweida’s security services put under the authority of the Syrian ministry of interior with the police force manned with members of the local population, Al Jazeera reports, which follows an agreement with the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on Monday evening.

The Syrian government will also appoint a governor and a police chief, who are not necessarily required to be from Suweida. 

Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Syria, has previously affirmed their commitment to a unified Syrian state and has firmly rejected any plans to divide the country, stressing their project is a purely national Syrian one.

Al-Hijri said that the “unity of Syria, its land and people” is a priority and the Druze community is not seeking separation or divisions, only to preserve their roots.

It follows unrest in the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana and Israeli outreach to the people of Suweida, a move firmly rejected by its inhabitants but adding to the unease in Syria.

Talks between the interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and dignitaries representing the people of Suweida had taken place in Damascus before the agreement. 

Although Suweida played a major role in opposing the regime of Bashar al-Assad, its majority Druze population has remained distrustful of the Islamists in the opposition including the now disbanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group whose members currently govern Syria.

Al-Sharaa, who is the former leader of HTS, has sought to dispel the fears of the Druze in Suweida, saying his administration and any future Syrian government must represent and tolerate all minority faiths. 

The move comes as Syria has witnessed the worst violence since the fall of the Assad regime in December of last year, with hundreds of Alawi civilians being killed as security forces clashed with remnants of the former regime in its former heartlands. 

In recent weeks Israel, which has expanded its illegal occupation of southern Syria, has claimed it wants to split Syria along ethnic and religious lines, with it attempting to exploit Druze fears over potential persecution under the new government.

However, while Druze misgivings continued with the people of Suweida taking to the streets to protest Israel’s attempts to divide their province from the rest of Syria last month. Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanded the new Syrian military not to operate south of Damascus. 

An integration deal between the Syrian government and Suweida would therefore shore up the Syrian government’s attempts to unify the country, as both internal forces, including Assad loyalists, and external ones, such as Israel, attempt to undermine its post-war rehabilitation. 

On Monday, it was announced that the Kurdish-led and US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces, which has also allegedly been courted by Israel, had reached a deal with the Al-Sharaa to integrate its territories and armed forces into the new Syrian government.