Assad plants Shia settlements to change demography of Sweida

 Walid Junblatt, the Druze leader told the newspaper “Al-Anba’a” that he had information about the plans of  the regime of Bashar al-Assad to re-structure the area of the Jabal al-Arab by settling tens of thousands of strangers in the region and naturalizing them. 

 This declaration of Junblatt, the leader if the “National Struggle Front” in Lebanon came after a wide spread news about the same subject for a while. 

On the other hand, some activists explained the highlighting of this subject in this time as a part of the intimidation strategy Basha Al-Asad Regime uses to get the minority groups of Durze frightened from the expanding of the Sunni sect to Jabal Al-Arab region, especially after the pronounced fail of the visit of Samir Kuntar, the messenger of Syrian Regime and Hezbollah militia to Sweida. In that visit, Durze decline Kuntar’s request to fight with the Regime against the Syrians, Moreover, activists confirm that there is no solid proof or clear indications on these plans.

Other activists see that the idea of ​​the Shiite or Iranian expansion in the region is not new, especially in the south part of Syrian, and they think it started a long time ago and they link it to some events happen more than a decade ago when a vast area of land was sold from the North East part of Sweida to the South East in a discreet manner and no one dare to talk about it

The activists also tried to link their views to the geographical location of Sweida, where it adjacent Horan Fields, and ruling Sweida by the Regime, would facilitate the movement of Hezbollah militia and provide a safe path towards Daraa, Furthermore, iinformation about gathering a lot of armed groups belonging to Hezbollah militia and fighters from Iraq's Shiites, in camps inside the city (Municipal Stadium) support the assumption.

 No reliable evidence about the project is available, and that provoked different attitudes, most of them reject it and many political activists launched a statement to sign to condemn such plans. They called for uniting efforts to resist this project, stressing that the Syrian regime seeks to create demographic defect in Sweida; to separate it into fragments and part, therefore it will be easier to violate. They consider that act is a part of the punishment the Regime gives to people in Sweida for rejecting fighting on its side against the Syrians outside the region despite its frequent attempts to get them involve. 

 Things went too far with some people to the extent they threat of killing anyone sells or let land or  a property to a stranger or a foreign non-Syrian or newly naturalized prson. 

A group called the "the black sword of Al-mekdadin" vowed to kill everyone sells or rent his properties to strangers and they will hurt any mediator or facilitator of the job.

The idea of Shiism in Sweida raised huge arguments and disagreeing among people in the city, and it reach the limit of accusing the educated people and religious figures of working to the advantage of the Regime to spread the principles that Durze religion has roots of Shiism

They accused some people of falsely interpret the religious reference such as the book of Sheikh Mohammed Al-Asharfani, to serve the goal of the Regime to resettle large numbers of Shiites in Jabal al-Arab.