Armed factions from Sweida, in southern Syria, formed the Sweida Military Council on Feb. 24, 2025, in opposition to the centralization of power in Damascus. (Credit: Photo from Jamal Bali's X account)
“We are at a stage of ‘to be or not to be,’ working for our interest as a sect.” Last Thursday, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri — the spiritual leader of Syria’s minority Druze sect — delivered his most strongly worded statement yet directed at the country’s new administration. “No understanding or agreement with the government in Damascus,” he vowed, calling it an “extremist government in every sense of the word, wanted by international justice” in a video posted online. Hours later, local military groups took to main streets and central squares in Syria’s southern Sweida province, raising the Druze flag and firing into the air.A day earlier, al-Hijri’s said, a “memorandum of understanding,” surfaced online bearing the signature of Sweida's governor, Mustafa Bakour, along with several figures from the province. The document suggested an...
“We are at a stage of ‘to be or not to be,’ working for our interest as a sect.” Last Thursday, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri — the spiritual leader of Syria’s minority Druze sect — delivered his most strongly worded statement yet directed at the country’s new administration. “No understanding or agreement with the government in Damascus,” he vowed, calling it an “extremist government in every sense of the word, wanted by international justice” in a video posted online. Hours later, local military groups took to main streets and central squares in Syria’s southern Sweida province, raising the Druze flag and firing into the air.A day earlier, al-Hijri’s said, a “memorandum of understanding,” surfaced online bearing the signature of Sweida's governor, Mustafa Bakour, along with several figures from the province....