Lebanon Druze leader accuses Israel of exploiting minority in Syria

Lebanon Druze leader accuses Israel of exploiting minority in Syria
Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt sits next to a framed An-Nahar newspaper front page covering his father’s assassination in 1977, at his residence in Beirut on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 27 March 2025
Follow

Lebanon Druze leader accuses Israel of exploiting minority in Syria

Lebanon Druze leader accuses Israel of exploiting minority in Syria
  • Walid Jumblatt: Israel wants ‘to implement the plan it has always had... which is to break up the region into confessional entities and extend the chaos’
  • Jumblatt: ‘They want to annihilate Gaza, then it will be the West Bank’s turn... they are trying to destabilize Syria, through the Druze but also others’

BEIRUT: Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt has accused Israel of exploiting followers of his minority faith in Syria as part of a broader plan to divide the Middle East along sectarian lines.
Israel wants “to implement the plan it has always had... which is to break up the region into confessional entities and extend the chaos,” said Jumblatt, a key figure in Lebanese politics for more than four decades.
“They want to annihilate Gaza, then it will be the West Bank’s turn... they are trying to destabilize Syria, through the Druze but also others,” he told AFP in an interview Wednesday.
“It’s a dangerous game.”
Israel has been making overtures toward Syria’s Druze community since Islamist-led rebels ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad in December after more than 13 years of war.
Since then, Israel has sent troops into the UN-patrolled buffer zone along the armistice line on the Golan Heights, and war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has reported regular Israeli incursions deeper into southern Syria.
The Druze faith has followers in Israel, Lebanon and Syria, including the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.
They account for about three percent of Syria’s population and are concentrated in the southern province of Sweida.
This month, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said 10,000 humanitarian aid packages had been sent to “the Druze community in battle areas of Syria” over the past few weeks.
“Israel has a bold alliance with our Druze brothers and sisters,” he told journalists.

Israel also authorized the first pilgrimage in decades by Syrian Druze clerics to a revered shrine in Israel.
Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israel would not allow Syria’s new rulers “to harm the Druze,” following a deadly clash between government-linked forces and Druze fighters in the suburbs of Damascus.
Druze leaders rejected Katz’s warning and declared their loyalty to a united Syria.
Druze representatives have been negotiating with Syria’s new authorities on an agreement that would see their armed groups integrated into the new national army.
The talks had almost reached completion but “Israeli pressure” on some parties prevented the accord from being finalized, a source close to the negotiations told AFP, requesting anonymity as the matter is sensitive.
Jumblatt noted that during the French mandate in the 1920s and 1930s, “Syria was divided into four entities: an Alawite state, a Druze state, the state of Damascus and the state of Aleppo,” the latter two being Sunni Muslim.
“The Druze, with the other Syrian nationalists, were able to prevent the division of Syria” by launching a revolt and the plan later collapsed, he said.
He expressed hope that any new division of Syria could be avoided, appealing to Arab leaders to support interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa.

Jumblatt in December was the first Lebanese official to meet Sharaa after his Islamist group spearheaded the offensive that ousted Assad.
Sharaa told Jumblatt that Syria would no longer exert “negative interference” in Lebanon, after Assad’s dynasty was accused of destabilising Lebanon for years and assassinating numerous Lebanese officials, including Jumblatt’s father.
Kamal Jumblatt, who founded the Progressive Socialist Party and opposed Assad’s father Hafez over his troops’ intervention in the Lebanese civil war, was killed near the Syrian border in 1977.
This month, Syrian security forces arrested former intelligence officer Ibrahim Huweija, suspected of numerous killings including that of Jumblatt’s father.
“He’s a big criminal, he also committed crimes against the Syrian people and should be tried in Syria,” Jumblatt said.
Lebanon’s new authorities have been under pressure since a devastating war between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, an Assad ally, Jumblatt said.
“The Americans want Lebanon to normalize ties with Israel,” he said.
Under a November ceasefire, Hezbollah was to withdraw fighters from the border area and dismantle its military infrastructure there.
The Israeli army was also to withdraw but troops are still deployed in five positions inside Lebanon that it deems strategic.


Israel PM warns ‘more to come’ after strikes on Yemen ports

Israel PM warns ‘more to come’ after strikes on Yemen ports
Updated 45 min 31 sec ago
Follow

Israel PM warns ‘more to come’ after strikes on Yemen ports

Israel PM warns ‘more to come’ after strikes on Yemen ports

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Yemen’s Houthis there was “more to come” after the air force struck two ports on Friday following Houthi missile attacks on Israel.

“Our pilots now hit successfully two terror ports belonging to the Houthis again. This is a continuation and there is more to come,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We are not willing to sit on the sidelines and let the Houthis attack us. We will hit them far more, including their leadership and all the infrastructure that allows them to hit us.”


British lawmakers praise Jordan’s role in regional peace efforts

British lawmakers praise Jordan’s role in regional peace efforts
Updated 16 May 2025
Follow

British lawmakers praise Jordan’s role in regional peace efforts

British lawmakers praise Jordan’s role in regional peace efforts
  • Politicians stress value of Jordanian-British relations, necessity of strategic partnership
  • “Jordan plays an important role in consolidating stability in the Middle East,” said MP Hamilton

DUBAI: British lawmakers have applauded Jordan’s role in maintaining regional stability and providing aid to the Gaza Strip.

The comments came in an interview with the Jordan News Agency’s correspondent in London.

The visit was at the invitation of the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and was headed by MP Zuhair Khashman of the Jordanian delegation.

British politicians stressed the value of Jordanian-British relations and the necessity of their strategic partnership.

“Jordan plays an important role in consolidating stability in the Middle East,” said MP Fabian Hamilton, chairman of the BGIPU.

Hamilton added that there were three key reasons for its role in helping to stabilize the Middle East: its vital geographical location, its political stability, and the leadership of King Abdullah II.

Baroness Gloria Hooper, a member of the House of Lords, said a two-state solution in the region was essential to securing lasting peace. She also made note of the UK’s public opinion on the war in Gaza.

She added: “Despite growing pressure in Parliament on the British government to take more measures to stop the Israeli war on Gaza, we need to increase and redouble these efforts.”

MP Alistair Carmichael, chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Jordan Group, said: “The situation in Gaza is continuously deteriorating, making support for Jordanian humanitarian efforts a top priority.”

MP Bambos Charalambous said that “the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza cannot be dealt with by individual efforts or through a single country alone, but through broad international partnerships.”


Gaza, Sudan most at risk as global starvation approaches 300m: Report

Gaza, Sudan most at risk as global starvation approaches 300m: Report
Updated 16 May 2025
Follow

Gaza, Sudan most at risk as global starvation approaches 300m: Report

Gaza, Sudan most at risk as global starvation approaches 300m: Report
  • Populations of both face ‘starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition’
  • War, aid cuts, climate among issues causing food shortages in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia

LONDON: Almost 300 million people face death from starvation, with the most at risk in war-torn Gaza and Sudan, the latest Global Report on Food Crises has warned.

The report said 295.3 million people have been identified as facing “high levels of acute food insecurity” after a sixth consecutive year of the global number growing, with people in South Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan also noted as being at particular risk.

Cuts to humanitarian aid budgets and escalating conflicts were highlighted as having pushed as many as 13.7 million people into chronic food insecurity over the past 12 months.

The report noted that the number of people most at risk of food shortages as defined by the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification had more than doubled in that period, and that 95 percent of those were in Gaza and Sudan.

It added that the populations of both face “starvation, death, destitution and high rates of acute malnutrition.”

More than half of Gaza’s approximately 2.1 million people face “catastrophe,” while Sudan has as many as 24 million people suffering food insecurity. Famine has been officially declared in the African country.

“Intensifying conflict, increasing geopolitical tensions, global economic uncertainty and profound funding cuts are deepening acute food insecurity,” the GRFC said.

“Following the closure of all crossings into the Gaza Strip in early March, and the collapse of the two-month ceasefire, food access has been severely restricted.”

The GRFC said 19 other countries are suffering from worsening food security “aggravated” by drought, highlighting Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Kenya.

War is also increasing several other countries’ food security, especially Nigeria and Myanmar.


UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported

UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported
Updated 16 May 2025
Follow

UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported

UN peacekeepers attacked by civilians in Lebanon, no casualties reported
  • The troops used non-lethal force to protect themselves and those present, according to UNIFIL
  • The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were notified and arrived shortly after the incident

DUBAI: A large group of civilians wielding metal rods and axes attacked a patrol of UN troops in southern Lebanon on Friday, causing damage to UN vehicles but no injuries, a United Nations peacekeeping force said.

The UN troops used non-lethal force to protect themselves and those present, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), adding the patrol had been on a routine operation between the villages of Jmayjmeh and Khirbat Silim.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) were notified and arrived shortly after the incident, escorting the patrol back to base.

UNIFIL said the patrol had been pre-planned and coordinated with the LAF.

The UN peacekeeping mission stressed that its mandate, under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, guarantees freedom of movement in its area of operations with or without LAF accompaniment.

On Wednesday, UNIFIL said that direct fire from the Israeli army had hit the perimeter of one of its peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon. UNIFIL said the incident on Tuesday was the first of its kind since Israel and Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.


British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital

British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital
Updated 16 May 2025
Follow

British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital

British doctor releases footage of aftermath of Israeli strike on Gaza hospital
  • Dr. Tom Potokar, consultant plastic surgeon, took video after 6 bombs killed 28 people at European Gaza Hospital
  • ‘It’s a direct hit on the hospital … Shrapnel everywhere … Absolute mayhem’

LONDON: A British doctor in Gaza has released footage showing the devastation caused by an Israeli airstrike on the European Gaza Hospital near the southern city of Khan Younis on Thursday.

Dr. Tom Potokar, a consultant plastic surgeon, shared the video with the BBC, documenting the aftermath of an attack by Israel on the facility. Six bombs were dropped on the hospital, killing 28 people.

Potokar, who has traveled to Gaza 16 times to provide vital treatment to Palestinians trapped in the enclave, described the footage as a “snapshot” of his experience working at the hospital.

In the video, he described an “absolutely massive strike … right in front of the emergency room,” as people ran and lay on the ground outside the hospital.

“Shrapnel everywhere. Devastation right in the forecourt of the hospital. Absolutely terrible,” he said in the footage.

In further scenes described as “absolute mayhem,” Potokar walked through the corridors of the hospital as medics, patients and other civilians tried to respond to the attack. 

“It’s a direct hit on the hospital,” he said, as screams echoed in the background and smoke billowed through the building.

Standing outside an operating theater, Potokar then turned the camera on himself to survey the damage, and said the facility was “too dangerous” to take people to be operated on, and staff were leaving to find shelter. He later reported that the hospital had been entirely evacuated.

Potokar told the BBC: “We’ve been treating patients with huge open wounds, some even with maggots in, infected, multiple amputations, children down to the age of two with significant nerve injuries, traumatic brain injuries.”

At least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza on Thursday, according to local authorities.