No safety from HTS: Druze plea for UN shield

Shafaq News/ On Friday, the Military Council in Syria’s southern al-Suwayda province declared its full support for Druze spiritual leader Sheikh al-Aql Hikmat al-Hijri’s appeal for urgent international protection.

In a statement posted on Facebook, the council emphasized al-Hijri’s role in “safeguarding the people of Jabal al-Arab.”

The council accused Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as al-Nusra Front, of committing war crimes in Druze-populated areas including Sahnaya and Jaramana near Damascus, citing random killings of unarmed civilians, arbitrary arrests, and the humiliation of Druze religious figures and symbols.

It further accused HTS of undermining social cohesion through extremist ideology and the use of force, with the Druze identity as a particular target.

Calling for immediate action, the council urged the UN Security Council to establish a safe zone in al-Suwayda and its surroundings under neutral international supervision, and called on the UN Human Rights Council to deploy investigation teams and pursue international accountability for those responsible.

The council warned foreign backers of HTS against funding what it called “terrorist groups carrying out sectarian cleansing in violation of international law,” and condemned what it described as international silence over the violence in the affected areas.

Earlier, al-Hijri, called for “rapid and direct international assistance” in a separate statement, saying that “a government does not kill its people.”