Legal action against Wahhab after his party called for armed resistance in Syria

A week after announcing on X the creation of a group called “Tawhid Army,” Druze party leader Wiam Wahhab, who called for the establishment of an “independent resistance” to confront clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze in Sweida (Syria), was targeted on Monday by a request to open a judicial investigation.

The legal action, denouncing crimes that “threaten national security and civil peace,” was filed with the Court of Cassation by lawyer Nohad Salma and Kifah al-Kassar, a member of the Islamic Sharia Council, chaired by Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Abdellatif Derian.

“Everyone, in Sweida and surrounding villages, must expel the armed men from the city,” the leader of the Tawhid party added in his comment. “Stand firm and [these men] will be driven out.”

Context

Call for armed struggle in Syria: Wi'am Wahab, a lover of controversy

Contacted by L’Orient-Le Jour, Salma said that the judicial inquiry is based in particular on Article 317 of the Penal Code, which provides for prison sentences for “anyone who, through an action, a written text or a speech, stirs up sectarian and confessional divisions and incites conflicts among the components of the nation.”

The legal action also refers to Article 219 of the same code, which deems “an accomplice in a crime or offense to anyone who has given instructions to commit the offense or has reinforced the perpetrator’s determination by any means whatsoever.”

Salma further accuses Wahhab of “awakening identity impulses, exacerbating instinctive beliefs” and attempting to “revive the logic of militias.”

Broader political context

Sweida clashes: A historic rupture in Sunni-Druze relations in Lebanon and Syria

“We are in a state, not a mini-state or a farm,” he insisted, asserting that “if components of other Lebanese communities behaved like the Druze leader, the entire structure of the state would collapse.”

For the plaintiff lawyer, the announcement of the “Tawhid Army” constitutes an attempt to “undermine relations between Lebanon and Syria,” notably in reference to remarks deemed insulting to Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, whom Wahhab called a “barber,” alluding to videos showing Druze sheikhs being forcibly shaved by fighters from groups opposed to the Druze in Sweida.

A few months ago, the leader of the Tawhid party had expressed, during a television interview, his willingness to normalize relations with Israel, declaring himself ready to “deal with the devil” to ensure the protection of the Druze community. For the plaintiffs, these remarks amount to “collaboration with the enemy … and an act of treason.”

On the flip-side...

Clashes in Sweida: Salam and Joumblatt urge 'restraint' in Lebanon

Salma told our publication that the complaint has been filed with the registry of the Court of Cassation, expressing hope that Attorney General Jamal Hajjar will act on it.

L’Orient-Le Jour tried, without success, to contact Wahhab through two phone numbers provided to the newspaper.

This article was translated from L'Orient-Le Jour by Sahar Ghoussoub.

Après l’appel à la résistance armée de son parti en Syrie, Wi’am Wahab visé par un recours judiciaire