Syrian Druze Spurn Offer to Join Syrian Military, Israel Backtracks on Offer of Entry Visa

The Syrian Druze population has been something of a wildcard in the future of southern Syria. The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government in Damascus has promised unity, while Israel appeared, at least at first, to be trying to court them as allies.

Where they’ll fall remains a mystery, as many in the Druze community are feeling left out by the new Syrian cabinet giving them only a relatively weak ministry, the agriculture ministry. Israel has similarly reneged on a promise to give the Druze entry visas allowing them to enter Israeli territory for work.

The entry visas were seen as a major incentive for the Druze to back growing Israeli dominance of the region, and came with allowing a handful of Druze leaders to visit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and some historic Druze shrines. No explanation was given for why the entry visa plan was suddenly scrapped.

One of the first signs of blowback about their dubious inclusion in the cabinet is also revealing signs the Druze link with Damascus isn’t very strong either, with multiple major Druze militias refusing offers to integrate into the Syrian Army.

The Druze militias aren’t huge on a national scale, but they’re big and growing bigger in the Suwayda Governorate. Refusing to integrate with the HTS-run military flies in the face of a major HTS sticking point, that every faction in Syria must submit and integrate their security forces under centralized control.

The HTS is so far only offering tepid efforts to integrate the Druze politically, naming a Druze temporary governor in Suwayda back in January. The governor has struggled with growing requests from the locals for infrastructure after the protracted civil war, and so far there is little sign they’re getting much aid from the national level.

Beyond that, a brief clash was reported back in early in Jaramana, which has a substantial Druze population. The HTS sent troops in and ruled out all attempts at mediation. That situation calmed pretty quickly, but it’s no closer to bringing the rest of the Druze population’s territory under national government control.

Historically, the Druze dominated the Jabal al-Druze State, which was one of the French mandate’s states in the early 20^th century. That region roughly lines up with the modern Suwayda Governorate, and their history of being allowed relative autonomy might indeed run afoul of the HTS positions. It was initially speculated that Israel could be courting them on that basis as well, but they no longer seem to be offering the same sorts of incentives they were a few weeks ago.