Russia calls Druze youth to join government’s Fifth Corps in Syria’s Suwayda
SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – Russian Forcescalled on the Druze Men of Dignity group to send their youth to join the government forces’ Russian-backed Fifth Corps on Thursday.
A source of the House of Druze Monotheistic Sect in Syria’s southern city of Suwayda told North Press on Thursday that Russia had given a message to the Druze community asking that Suwayda’s youth join the Fifth Corps.
The source added that the message referred to all the youth, whether they were required for compulsory military service or not.
According to the message, Russia is offering $200 USD to people who join the Fifth Corps.
The message was carried by a delegation of three people working as mediators for the Russians, and via Imad al-Aqbani, the coordinator of relations between Russia and the Syrian government.
Al-Aqbani delivered the message on Tuesday to Sheikh Youssef Jarbou, the sheikh of the Men of Dignity, at the sect’s house.
The sect’s house is a social religious institution that deals with the affairs of the Druze community in Suwayda.
The governorate of Suwayda, located in Syria’s south, is home to the country’s Druze minority, an ethnoreligious group which practices a monotheistic Abrahamic religion and speaks the Arabic language.
Historically, the region has been mostly pro-government, even from the start of the country’s nine-year-crisis and civil war.
The source pointed out that the request was reinforced by promises that people joining the Fifth Corps from Suwayda could skip their compulsory military service and be stationed in their own region.
Sheikh Youssef Jarbou did not give any answer or response to the delegation about their demand.
He confined himself to saying that inviting the youth of Suwayda to join the Fifth Corps “will not resonate positively by the community in Suwayda.”
Youssef Jarbou held the Syrian government responsible for containing the crisis of the unemployed youth in the governorate.
Russia established the Fifth Corps in 2016, and invited young people through the Syrian government and through centers established in the Syrian provinces to join the Corps.
The centers were distributed in Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Tartous, Lattakia and Suwayda.
The need to pacify southern Syria more widely will likely remain a Russian priority for the foreseeable future. It should be noted that tensions between the Fifth Corps and Damascus are not an isolated phenomenon.
The Daraa-Suwayda border areas to the east of Busra have witnessed disputes involving Fifth Corps-aligned factions, the Druze community, and Iran-backed NDF factions.
However, these tensions have not flared in recent weeks, and contrary to media reports, local sources indicate that no new Daraa-Suwayda deal has been agreed upon.
The lack of a clear framework for cooperation in the area, even at a time of lowered tensions, casts doubt on Russia’s capacity to impose stability on a broad basis in southern Syria over the long term.
In the medium term, further flare-ups involving low-level violence, skirmishes, and kidnappings are possible between Daraa and Suwayda.
The outbreak of such events will give cause for more overt intervention by external actors.
Likewise, further violence across Daraa itself will also upset Russia’s hopes of quieting unrest between government-aligned and opposition-aligned actors.
On September 1, locally prominent Fifth Corps commander Mohammad Masri was assassinated by unknown gunmen.
Further assassinations targeting former opposition figures are all but guaranteed, particularly as reconciliation has been seen as a common motivator for such attempts in the past.