BEIRUT: The Druze community in Lebanon, represented by its political and spiritual leaders, unanimously agreed in an urgent meeting on Wednesday in Beirut on the “necessity of quelling sedition in Syria in light of the bloody events that unfolded in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.”
They condemned “every insult made against the Prophet” and called for calm, dialogue, and for the Syrian administration to conduct a transparent investigation into what happened.
The intervention came a day after clashes near the Syrian capital Damascus left a reported 13 people dead. The fighting was prompted after an audio clip supposedly of a senior Druze figure insulting the Prophet Muhammad circulated, promoting violence on the predominantly Druze town of Jaramana.
Former leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, announced during the meeting his willingness to travel to the Syrian Arab Republic and meet President Ahmed Al-Sharaa “to engage in dialogue for the sake of preserving brotherhood.”
Jumblatt emphasized his rejection of “Israeli intervention through the use of Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif’s followers to entangle the Druze of Lebanon and Syria in a conflict against all Muslims,” stressing his disapproval of “the repeated visits made by Druze delegations to Israel seeking its support, which have not been successful.”
He expressed his concern regarding “the involvement of figures from the former Syrian regime in inciting discord.”
Jumblatt said there are “hundreds like Ibrahim Huweija,” referring to the Syrian officer who was arrested in Syria last March and is accused of assassinating the Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt in the 1970s.
On Wednesday morning, Jumblatt engaged in extensive communications that “included the new Syrian administration, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Jordan,” as stated in a release from the Progressive Socialist Party.
He urged “the relevant parties to work toward establishing a ceasefire in the Ashrafiyat Sahnaya area to halt the bloodshed.”
Jumblatt requested that “matters be addressed based on the principles of the state and the unity of Syria with all its components.”
According to PSP, “as a result of the communications, an agreement was reached to implement a ceasefire that has come into effect.”
Sheikh Akl Sami Abi Al-Mona, the Druze spiritual leader, said at the beginning of the meeting: “The objective is to avert the worsening situation for our people in Syria, with whom we share ties of faith, kinship, and Arab and Islamic identity.”
He warned of “a discord plot that was being prepared in Syria, based on a video clip on social media that turned out to be fabricated to sow discord between the Druze and Sunnis in Syria, a country currently fertile ground for this changing reality.”
Abu Al-Mona affirmed that “Druze are unitarians and our religion is Islam.”
He added: “We refuse to be an independent national identity and we only embrace our Arab and Islamic affiliation. We refuse to be in confrontation with the Sunnis, with whom we share the Islamic faith.
“What happened in Syria proves that there is a hidden hand working on fueling the conflict.
“Not only do we condemn the action, the reaction and the clash on social media, but also the violation of holy sites, and we will work to stop the hateful rhetoric.
“The Syrian state must control the fragmented factions and intervene immediately to stop the ongoing security collapse.”
Abu Al-Mona stressed that “Israel seeks to execute its expansion plans,” adding that “we will only accept our Arab and Islamic affiliation.”
He described the situation as “critical” and the reactions as “hasty.”
Abu Al-Mona held local and external calls, notably with Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Osama Al-Rifai and Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, as part of the cooperative efforts to control the situation in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and to address potential dangers.
The main road linking Beirut to Damascus was blocked in Aley, Mount Lebanon, this afternoon, in protest against the developments taking place in Jaramana.
