Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt urged Syria’s Druze community on Sunday to remain vigilant against Israeli “plots.”
“The free people of Jabal al-Arab must beware of Israel’s schemes in Syria,” the former head of the Progressive Socialist Party said at a news conference in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
Jumblatt warned of a broader effort to destabilise Arab national security and announced plans to visit Syria again to discuss ongoing developments.
“I have requested a meeting with (Syrian President) Ahmed al Sharaa for next week,” he said.
“We place great hope in Syrian Arab figures from all backgrounds to confront Israel's diabolical plan,” he added.
Arab summit
On Saturday, tensions erupted in Jaramana, a densely populated suburb near Damascus that is home to a majority of Druze and Christian minority residents, where militia groups refusing to disarm instigated security unrest.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz instructed the Israeli military to prepare to “protect” the area, which they referred to as “Druze.”
Israel’s latest move brought the situation to a new escalation point by Netanyahu's government against Syria’s new administration, which has called for an end to Tel Aviv’s violations of the country’s sovereignty.
“Arab countries will not be spared from destruction and fragmentation. The upcoming Arab summit in Cairo on Tuesday must pay attention to this,” said Jumblatt.
Discussing the Druze, he emphasised that “those who unified Syria during the time of Sultan Pasha al-Atrash (1891–1982) will not respond to Netanyahu’s call.”
“If a small minority from here or there seeks to drag Syria into chaos, I do not believe those who unified Syria will heed Netanyahu’s call,” he added.
Israel’s ‘exploitation of sects’
Jumblatt warned that “Israel wants to exploit sects and denominations for its own benefit, aiming to fragment the region and realize the concept of “Greater Israel.”
Preventing this is the responsibility of Arab leaders before it’s too late.” “Israel seeks to dismantle the region. Its biblical project knows no boundaries, and it is an old and new project that failed in Lebanon,” he said.
Bashar al Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on December 8, ending the Baath Party’s regime, which had been in power since 1963.
The next day, Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the new Syrian administration, who was appointed president on Jan. 29, tasked Mohammed al Bashir with forming a government to oversee Syria’s transitional period.
After the fall of the Assad regime, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarized buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria.
It also intensified air strikes targeting Syrian military positions across the country.
Israel’s recent military advances in the Golan Heights, which it has occupied since 1967, have drawn condemnation from the UN and several Arab nations.
