The anniversary of July attack in As-Swayda fuelled tension between Druze sheikhdom and Ba’ath Party
As-Suwayda – North-Press Agency
As-Suwayda governorate is witnessing tension between the Sheikhdom of the Druze monotheistic faith (Tawhid) and the ruling Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party, on the first anniversary of the massacre carried out by the Islamic State (IS) in the eastern countryside of As-Swayda.
The tension came as a result of the failure of members of the Ba’ath Party branch in As-Swayda to prevent the house of the “Unitarian Druze Muslim community”, led by Sheikh Youssuf Jarbou, from holding events under the name “Spirits of July”, in cooperation with an organization called ” Syrian Jozour for Building the Civil Society”.
Partisan allegations
Sources at the event, who preferred not to be identified for security reasons, revealed to North-Press that members of the Ba’ath Party of As-Swayda branch have mobilized under the pretext that “the organization would affect the Party’s popularity”, and tended to put pressure on the sheikhdom of Akl to cancel the occasion.
The cancellation request came with claims made by the Party’s branch that the participant organization was not licensed and it is financed by Turkey, and was classified as an opposition organization, as the event will be used to take action against the Syrian government, while Sheikh al-Akl, Youssuf Jarbou, has demanded proof of these allegations.
Secularism and dependency
The same sources pointed out that interviews were carried out to attack the organization and accuse its employees of being affiliated with a religious institution while presenting themselves as “secularists” and accusing the Druze monotheist community of receiving funding from abroad.
Meanwhile, the levels of rumor escalated, according to the sources, with the failure to convince the sheikh of al-Akl of the claims of the Ba’ath Party’s members, as things reached to exert pressure on artists in order not to participate in the celebration, as well as exert pressure on the choral members and prevent two of them from attending.
The pressures included threatening the parents of participants to prevent their children from participating in the “Pioneers Competition” despite their excellence, as security signs will be placed in front of their names if they participate, which threatened their future, forcing two choir participants at the age of 16 to withdraw.
Warning not to participate
The Ba’ath Party branch in As-Swayda instructed its members not to participate in the event, as confirmed by other sources in the region, warning the participants to hold them accountable, explaining that these events are “undesirable in security.”
On the other hand, a party leader also spread a rumor through those close to him that the Syrian government’s security services will “arrest the participants and organizers of the event before the start of the ceremony”; what many residents considered a form of intimidation against the residents of As-Swayda, who are trying to commemorate the first massacre that was carried out by the Islamic State (IS) in a number of villages in the governorate’s countryside.
Attempts of obstruction
Moreover, the Party branch also tried to disrupt the ceremony, by exerting pressure on Nishat Kiwan, Director of the Museum Department in As-Swayda, and pushing him to put pressure on Sheikh Youssuf Jarbou and the host Thaer al-Atrash on the pretext that there were no licenses for the ceremony from the General Directorate in Damascus.
Furthermore, the head of the Political Security branch, in parallel, tried to remove the organization of “Syrian Jozour” from the real estate it owns after calling the owner of the property and pushing him to get them out or condemn him for “financing terrorism” and prosecuting his sons in Syrian universities as well as depriving him of “obtaining security approvals and disposing of his property whether by selling, buying or leasing.”
Anticipation and resentment
Members of the organization have revealed their anticipation of the outcome of these pressures, with threats to prevent them from traveling and asking them to go to the Syrian government intelligence, in an attempt to punish them for completing the event.
What has upset the population in As-Swayda is that the ruling Arab Socialist Ba’ath Party did not organize any event related to the commemoration of the bloody massacre on July 25 which was carried out against hundreds of residents of villages in eastern As-Swayda, who were killed, wounded, abducted and executed, despite all these pressures.
While accounts claiming to represent the Fahd forces (a local force of As-Swayda) threatened Ba’ath Party’s members of visiting villages in eastern As-Swayda and attempting to “steal the victory of local forces” after the party decided to visit the villages instead of organizing events.
On July 25, the house of the “Unitarian Druze Muslim community” and the Organization of “ Syrian Jozour for Building the Civil Society”, in Swayda held an event to commemorate the victims of the attack by the Islamic State (IS) a year after the same date of 2018. The event was revived by ” Syrian Jozour ” choir at the mausoleum of the Commander-in-Chief of the Syrian Revolution Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in the city of al-Qurayya in the southern countryside of As-Swayda.