From Syria to Lebanon: Joumblatt warns of sectarian division risks

Druze leader Walid Joumblatt seems particularly concerned about recent developments in southern Syria, home to a large Druze population. 

On Sunday, he addressed the fate of his community in the region in a brief press conference, following what was described as an “extraordinary” inter-Druze summit.

Joumblatt, who has for years advocated for the unity of a community split between Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan — and of which he is a leading figure — accused Israel of trying to “fragment the region” by playing on the fears of minorities. 

His press conference, held as part of the preparations for the March 16 commemoration of his father Kamal’s assassination was intended to sound the alarm and warn against Israeli tactics designed to isolate the community in Syria and even in neighboring countries, by positioning Tel Aviv as its defender.

Joumblatt’s mobilization was prompted by Israeli statements urging members of the community in Syria to split. It also comes after a series of military developments, notably in Jaramana, a Druze-Christian town in the south-eastern suburbs of Damascus. On Friday, armed Druze groups clashed with the security forces of the new Syrian government, killing one and wounding nine, but the new government’s forces failed to enter the town.

Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, threatened military intervention if Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government attacked the Druze minority in southern Syria, but insisted on Saturday that his country was committed to protecting this community. “We have ordered the army to prepare and send a clear and strict warning: if the regime harms the Druze, it will be struck by us.”

Israel is clearly playing on the heartstrings, as Syria’s Druze have suspicions about the Islamists of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), particularly in Sweida, where the community has long enjoyed de facto autonomy from the Damascus regime.

“The situation is worrying. The Israelis are raising the specter of a Sunni wolf that would want to devour the minorities in Syria [to divide the country along sectarian lines],” said a source close to the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) on condition of anonymity.

‘Preserving Arab identity’

Fearing a spread to the region and a perverse effect in Lebanon, Joumblatt — who welcomed the fall of the Assad regime and was quick to build bridges with the new government — warned the Arab world, calling on it to mobilize. This SOS could be heard on Tuesday at the Arab summit that will be held in Cairo.

“Let’s not forget that Syria is on Lebanon’s doorstep. We still remember the partition attempts spurred on by Israel during the [1975-1990] Lebanese Civil War; a project that fortunately failed,” added the source.

Joumblatt’s warnings were reiterated on Monday at the “extraordinary” meeting of leading political and religious figures held at the community’s spiritual headquarters in Verdun. 

“This period is far more dangerous than that of May 17 or the [1982] Israeli occupation of Beirut,” he warned, referring to the peace agreement signed with Israel in 1983 before being abrogated a year later under pressure from Syria and its Lebanese allies.

Joumblatt warned against Israeli “expansionist projects” in Syria and called on Syrian Druze to “preserve their Arab identity.” “The demands of the [Druze] Mountain [in Syria] remain the unity of Syria,” said Druze Sheikh Aql (spiritual leader) Sami Abi al-Mona, calling on the Druze “not to give in to the chaos willed by their enemies ... and not to be drawn into the Zionist plans to divide Syria in order to weaken the Arab world.”

This fear has become all the greater following Israeli infiltrations into southern Syria, which overlooks the Lebanese border areas of Hasbaya and Rashaya. Joumblatt also strongly criticized Mowafak Tariq, the head of the community in Israel, who opted early on for an alliance with Israel in the occupied Golan Heights. Joumblatt had called him a “collaborator with the enemy” in the past.

This stance was immediately criticized by the former Druze minister and Joumblatt’s opponent, Wiam Wahhab, who said that the community’s “allegiance is only to God,” and not to Damascus. 

“Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif represents a large number of Druze,” he wrote on his X account. This statement came as a surprise, especially as Wahhab has long been an ally of Hezbollah, standing up for “Arabism” and “resistance” against Israel. 

But the new rule in Syria has long been fought against by Hezbollah, which since 2013 had taken part in the fighting alongside the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad to subdue the opposition.

In the logic advocated by the PSP, all of the Lebanese must share the fear of the Druze, as the threat of sectarian division could easily extend beyond Syria’s border. 

All the more so as the takeover of power by Sunni Islamists in Syria could encourage similar movements in Lebanon, particularly in the north. “Israel’s biblical project has no border, and its ambition is to extend … to the entire region to create a Greater Israel,” Joumblatt said on Sunday.

Indeed, the Israelis make no secret of their plans to reshape the region. 

Back in November 2024, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar suggested that Israel should “approach” the Druze minorities in Lebanon and Syria. “Understand that in a region where we will always be a minority – natural alliances will be with other minorities,” he said, before boasting of the strong ties Israel made with Syria’s Druze and Kurds.

For the Druze in Lebanon, the situation is serious. All the more so as Syria — where Joumblatt intends to visit before March 16 to stress the importance of safeguarding the unity of the Druze and Syria — is exhausted both economically and militarily, after Israel wiped out all its military might. In such an unfavorable context, the Druze leader doesn’t have many levers in his hand.

“We can at least warn against this plot and against the temptations, particularly financial, that the Israelis are dangling in front of the Syrian Druze,” said the source that is close to PSP. “Equally important is the unity of the Arab countries, headed by Jordan, which borders the West Bank and Sweida, and which is the first to risk crumbling.”

In short, according to a source close to Joumblatt, it’s about using diplomacy to deal with a “bulldozer that advances without concern for anyone.”