Syria Druze faction admits to arming itself
ALBIN SZAKOLA & ULLIN HOPE/Now Lebanon/February 24/16
BEIRUT – The leader of the Sheikhs of Dignity in Syria’s Suweida faction has admitted that his independent Druze faction has been purchasing arms, days after one of its members was arrested at a regime checkpoint in possession of weapons.
“We’re going to bring weapons and arm ourselves,” Sheikh Rafaat al-Balaous declared in a fiery speech delivered shortly after supporters of his Sheikhs of Dignity movement detained Syrian regime security members in order to negotiate a swap for Sheikh Sheikh Anas Abu Hala. Syrian Military Intelligence on Monday arrested Sheikh Abu Hala at the Al-Masmiyeh checkpoint along a road leading northwest from the provincial capital of Suweida toward the neighboring Daraa province. Balaous disclosed that Abu Hala had been arrested in possession of arms destined for the Sheikhs of Dignity’s Bayrak al-Fahd (Banner of the Leopard), an umbrella organization to oversee smaller militia formations throughout the province affiliated with the independent Druze movement that has increasingly challenged regime authority in Suweida.
“He [Abu Hala] came from Sham [Damascus] with some goods that were his. Never mind what the amount in his possession was. He was stopped at a checkpoint and there was an argument,” the Druze leader explained. Later in the speech, Balaous clarified that the detained Sheikh was only transporting a “small amount” of arms, which were impounded at the checkpoint. Balaous—whose group considers itself independent of both the Bashar al-Assad government and the opposition—reiterated that the Sheikhs of Dignity were seeking only to defend Druze regions, and not fight for any foreign agendas.“We have a positive, neutral stance… We are here on our land.”
“We protect our country, our mountain, and our towns and villages,” he said adding that by defending their villages, members of his Druze group were “defending the country.” Balaous also emphasized that affiliates of the Sheikhs of Dignity were purchasing arms with their own funds and were “not funded by any party or state.”The Men of Dignity—a collection of supporters of the Sheikhs of Dignity—issued a statement Wednesday reiterating Balaous’s stances and revealing that Abu Nahas had finally been released by regime forces. “We will continue to bring in weapons and we will continue to gather ammunition and bombs and everything that helps us defend our land and honor,” the group said on Facebook.
It also angrily condemned the arrest of Abu Nahas, saying that “attacks on our clerical and laymen members are a red line. Any hand that touches them shall be amputated.”
Sheikhs of Dignity autonomy
Although the Men of Dignity do not seek the overthrow of the Assad regime, they maintain a fiercely independent stance and have called for reforms in Suweida while criticizing regime figures in charge of the Druze-populated province.
Rafaat al-Balaous’s admission that his group is buying weapons is the latest assertion of autonomy by the Sheikhs of Dignity movement, was led by Rafaat’s brother Waheed until he was killed in a September 2015 car bombing that his group blamed on Damascus. Prior to his death, Waheed al-Balaous had taken an increasingly strident tone against the Syrian regime and its intelligence chief in the Suweida, who the cleric accused of attempting to eliminate Assad’s enemies in the province. Only weeks before Balaous’s assassination, the Sheikhs of Dignity announced the formation of its own fighting force, Bayrak al-Fahd.
The Sheikhs of Dignity as well as its affiliates have kept up their autonomous stance following the death of Balaous, who his brother Rafaat replaced as leader of the movement in October 2015. On November 4, the Sheikhs of Dignity angrily accused the Syrian regime of “declaring war” against it after state media ran a report linking Rafaat Balaous to the killing of a top Baath Party official in Suweida. Less than a week later, the Syrian regime’s top security official in Suweida province appeared in a video with official religious representatives of the country’s Druze sect announcing a crackdown on the Men of Dignity.“The words ‘Balaous’s group,’ that phrase must be killed,” Suweida province’s Political Security Branch chief Wafiq Nasser said in a video published that circulated social media.
“It must be killed on the ground as an armed aggressing force and it must be killed as a term.” In early January, the Men of Dignity announced that its members were taking measures to “protect our internal security in most areas” of the mountainous Druze-populated province. In a statement posted on Facebook, the group said it was conducting patrols and establishing impromptu checkpoints “after the clear failure of certain state apparatuses concerned with protecting the people… from gangs of thieves and highway robbers.” The Men of Dignity also implied it was creating its own de-facto intelligence network, calling on Suweida residents to inform them of criminal activity. The statement comes as Suweida has been beset by increased levels of not only petty crime, but also kidnappings for ransom and other offenses. The group said the increased lawlessness was “in the interests of certain actors,” in a veiled reference to regime figures.
However, the Druze group also stressed that not all regime officials in Suweida were corrupt, saying that “certain state officials have deeply patriotic intentions that serve the interests of the people and the homeland.”