Would ISIS attack Sweida, Druze stronghold?

Reporting by Sarah Abdul Hai; Translation by Yusra Ahmed

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Last Saturday, at least 15 people, including 7 Druze clerics, were killed and dozens wounded when al-Qaeda-linked group backed with tribes’ fighters stormed Deir Dama village near Sweida city.

Zaman Al Wasl reporter said al-Nusra Front's jihadists and Bedouin fighters had stormed the village, predominantly by Druze sect after a series of sectarian spats.

Moreover, 5 people, three of them from the same family, were killed and 9 wounded in a coach explosion, run between Deir Dama and Ariqa, resulted from a bomb put in it.

Activists warned of consequences of that trend of violence and consider it as an attempt from the regime to abort effort for reconciliation between Bedouin and Druze.

Some Druze activists warned of strife if the fighting would be escalated in the neighboring villages with Dara’a, urging Druze clerics to stop inciting hatred feelings, as some activists reported efforts by clerics to mobilize youths to fight rebels in Druze strongholds.

On the other hand, Clerics met with Wia’am Wahab and Isam Zahreddin on Monday, in the same time, Mamdooh al-Atrash met many “educated” figures in his house. In both meetings, all attendees chosen to fight under regime’s arms and the National Army, beside the National Defence army, considering all other sources of armament, not national and unfaithful.

Attendees in al-Atrash’s house encouraged activation of the “community Army” and requested arms and trainers, and refused any cooperation with other fighting groups, unless it follows the regime’s National Defence Army.

Many people in Sweida refused the outcomes of those meetings, as they revealed that it was organized under Syrian security forces’ cover.

Activists condemned Mamdooh al-Atrash’s attempts to provoke factional spats and encouraging Druze to attack Bedouin in Dama, besides sending a letter to Bashar al-Assad, expressing his impression in his national feeling and fighting terrorists, and requested arming Sweida’s youth.

Syrian regime has founded its own militias as National Defence Army and Shiite brigades but its concerns is getting high when it comes to arm Druze,” activists say

The controversial stand of Basher al-Assad’s regime seemed to be a ‘National Decision’ but soon it appears the reason behinds refuse armament reflects Assad’s concerns, especially “if we goes back to 2000 when Syrian regime supported Bedouin in their fight against Druze,” activists and analysts expressed to Zman Al Wasl.

Rumours about ISIS’s camps and forces in the Eastern Desert of Sweida still worrying people in the city, either pro-regime or opposition.

Opposition of Sweida requested their people to unite against ISIS as it threaten their existence as a sect, especially with its wide spread in Iraq and Syria, and only small area occupied by Bedouin separates Sweida from Iraq.

Other people reject those rumours and consider them as part of regime’s plans to provoke fighting between mountain’s Druze and Horan’s fields. Despite that, they fear of the reality of those rumours, in this case, Sweida would be between the pliers’ jaws, al-Nusra front from West, and ISIS from East.

Many activist and opposition figures from Sweida, warned earlier of ISIS’s threat, and call people in Sweida either pro-regime or opposition to unite, and they request to withdraw arms out of Sweida and to put it in suitable bases to fight ISIS.

Yahya Qodmani, the first opposition figure warning about ISIS told Zaman Al Wasl that he warns people in Sweida of the state’s danger, especially after its widespread in Iraq and Syria and the killing silence of major countries about their crimes. He explains that ISIS targets Sweida and Druze because of their openness to other sect. He regrets that people in Sweida do not have enough arms to fight ISIS, and if they were properly armed they would be able to defeat ISIS.

In a relevant content, Dr. Fayez Kintar expects that Sweida is not that important to ISIS, at least in recent time, as they know the amount of hate people in Sweida have for them, besides, the mountainous natural structure of the area, makes it difficult for them to attack Sweida.

Kentar adds that ISIS would be a real problem for Sweida, as the city does not have enough arms, and regime is getting weaker, and if the city relies now on the National Defence Army, which relies on regime, would get weaker as well once the regime stops supporting it.

He expected that regime is behind the lack of security in the city, and increasing ISIS’s threat, as many incidence of robbery and violence took place. “any arming or fighting by Sweida’s people would be seen as a sectarian conflict and would put the sect in danger, and the best option is to strengthen relation with neighbours in the south like Dara’a and Qonaitera, as they are under the same threat of ISIS”, advises.

Fadel Abdul Mine'em supports the theory suggesting that regime is behind rumours about ISIS attacking Sweida, as the regime has been doing all it could to fuel the sectarian spat using some people from Dara’a to swear to religious figures in Sweida, even it used Mosques to provoke hatred against Druze. Moreover, they badly talked about Druze female teachers, to reach to abducting and killing young-men from Sweida. In the same time, people from Sweida cooperate with regime and killed many men from Dara’a. “However clerics and prominent figures in both cities stand against those attempts”

Abdul Mine’em holds regime responsibility of ISIS’s crimes, as it wants to find who equalises its crimes from the opposition side, to shuffle cards and regime would escape its crimes.

He adds that regime never fought ISIS and Syrian people who fought it.

He confirms ISIS’s bases around Sweida, and if they attack the city, defending it would be the responsibility of the National Army, not people. He expects bad fate of Sweida in case ISIS attacked it, like what happened in other areas.

However, Dr. Ghassan Abo Hamdan considers ISIS’s existence around Sweida nothing more than a lie from regime, and if the news is true, people in Sweida would defend their city as most of them are armed, and if regime let them down, they should attack its nearby bases and get arms from there.

He sees that if ISIS attacks Sweida, fighting battalions in Dara’a would be between the pliers’ jaws “ISIS and regime”, moreover, after their failure to find an agreement with al-Nusra front, Dara’a would fall sooner than expected.

The FSA’s leader in the Southern region, denied any existence of ISIS in Sweida’a Eastern desert, and rumours spread about ISIS because some groups of the FSA tried to help some refugees to cross to Jordan’s side via Roweshid’s crossing, and all battalions left the area afterward.

Sweida province, main stronghold of Druze sect, has witnessed several pro-democracy protests since the Syrian uprising erupted in March 2011. While the movement remains marginal, it is charged with symbolism, activists said.

Sweida is the birthplace of the historical Syrian figure, Sultan Pacha al-Atrash, who led the Syrian Revolution from 1925–1927.

Meanwhile, more than 191,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began in March 2011.