BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Reacting to the developments in the Damascus southern suburb, a leader of the Lebanese Druze community warned against escalating conflict as plotted by the Zionist regime in Syria and Lebanon.
Sheikh Sami Abu al-Mini, the leader of the Druze in Lebanon, said in response to the developments and clashes in the Damascus southern suburbs, saying that “What is happening in Syria is a sedition plot.”
He further stressed that “Damascus must listen to the demands of all Syrian people.”
He added that “We condemn the insult to the Prophet Muhammad and the sedition attempts. There are plots seeking to escalate the tensions. We want the situation to be brought under control. Seditionist plans are being implemented by Israel. We oppose separatist plans against Syria and the Arab and Islamic identity.”
In the meantime, Walid Jumblatt, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party of Lebanon said with regard to the developments in Syria, that “We want peace and dialogue, and the Syrian authorities must conduct a transparent investigation into the events in Jaramana. We are ready to go to Syria and we oppose Israeli interference in this country. Israel seeks to abuse the Druze to create sedition in Syria.”
On Wednesday, a day after the clashes in Syria, Israel carried out a “warning operation” in Syria, in the latest violation of the Arab country’s sovereignty.
A joint statement by the occupying regime’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and war minister Israel Katz claimed that the strike aimed “to prevent harm to the Druze.”
The statement said the strike targeted an armed group allegedly preparing to attack a Druze community in Sahnaya town near Damascus.
The occupying regime claimed that the strike aimed to convey a “serious message” to Syria’s leadership that it expects Damascus to “act to prevent harm to the Druze.”
Israel’s Druze population, estimated at 150,000, mostly holds Israeli citizenship and serves in the military, unlike the 23,000 Druze in Syria’s Golan Heights, who largely reject the citizenship of the occupying regime and identify themselves as Syrian nationals.
The death toll from ongoing sectarian clashes in the southern suburbs of Damascus climbed to 39, including 16 security personnel, after ceasefire efforts collapsed and intense fighting resumed in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, officials and monitoring groups said Wednesday.