Syria Feature: Druze Groups Block Movement of Military’s Weapons and Tanks Out of Southeastern Province

Scott Lucas
By Scott Lucas June 9, 2015 23:25 Updated

Syria Feature: Druze Groups Block Movement of Military’s Weapons and Tanks Out of Southeastern Province

Story Highlights

  • Druze groups angered by forced conscription and regime seizure of grain and money
  • Worries that departure of weapons leaves area vulnerable
  • Syrian military shifting armor amid defeats elsewhere in country

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PHOTO: Syrian military convoy in Suweida Province:

Druze groups are preventing the Syrian military from moving tanks and weapons out of Suweida Province in southeastern Syria, according to opposition activists.

The activists told Syria Direct that armed men of the “Sheikhs of Dignity” movement stopped a column of tanks from the 15th Division 15 on the highway to Damascus. The armored column was transporting “heavy weaponry”.

Noura al-Basha, a Druze member of the Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union in Suwaida, said, “A number of the regime soldiers fled, and the others were captured by the Sheikhs of Dignity supporters, who forced the column to return to their bases in Suwaida Province.”

Reports circulated over the weekend that the Syrian military, facing a series of defeats and challenges by rebels and the Islamic State around the country, were shifting forces and weapons out of Suweida.

After the incident, Sheikh Waheed al-Balaus, the leader of the Sheikhs of Dignity movement, said in a speech, “We will not accept, under any pretense, that the army’s equipment be moved from its [current] locations.”

The Druze — a religious group primarily living in Syria, Lebanon, and Israel — are angered that the Assad regime has been moving “When most of the money and hard currency was removed from the Central Bank [in Suwayda] we didn’t move…we warned, and are still warning that the province is being emptied of grain…but for the province to be emptied of weapons….No, a thousand times no!”

Activists say Suweida’s leaders are worried that the removal of weapons leaves them vulnerable to the entry of foreign forces into the area. Rebels have been moving across southern Syria along the Jordanian border, while the Islamic State has also threatened incursions into the province.

EA sources report that communities in Suweida have been angered by regime attempts at forced conscription of young men. Claims circulated earlier this year of Druze protests, including stone-throwing and closure of roads with burning tires, against the conscriptions.

Hafiz Qarqut, a writer and political analyst, supported the claims, “Luna a-Shibl, who works as a media consultant for Assad and is from Suwayda, met with the Druze after the rebels captured Busra a-Sham”, a historic town near Suwaida, taken by rebels in April. The Assad advisor allegedly threatened that the regime would support the Islamic State’s entry into Suwayda “if the province avoided sending young men for military service”.

Soon after the meeting, groups affiliated with the Islamic State began attacks near the Khalkhala airport in northern Suwayda Province.

Scott Lucas
By Scott Lucas June 9, 2015 23:25 Updated
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34 Comments

  1. Amir in Tel Aviv June 9, 14:50

    Abandoning the Druze community sends a message to the minorities-coalition that we call “the Syrian regime”.

    Reply to this comment
    • niallfraserlove June 9, 17:50

      That’s why we tend call it the Assad or Baath regime because its for them only not the Syrians. The only time I use the term “Syrian regime” is when it is proceeded by the word Quisling.

      Reply to this comment
  2. Ian Gould June 9, 14:00

    Can anyone provide a map reference for Brigade 52?

    Reply to this comment
    • Ali ''Beast'' Ani June 9, 17:05

      I am reading in some news outlet that 52 was the largest base in Derra! Is it true? To me it looked like an already abandoned small out posts. Is this something that Assad bluffed the Islamic world being a lunching pad of its Great Resistance War against the Sate of Isrel? If yes, please allow me to say ”It is not the largest base, it is a Joke”

      Reply to this comment
      • James June 9, 21:09

        Little known fact: The spaceship in base 52 is actually the greatest outhouse toilet in all of Southern Syria. Now that it has fallen the regime have to go all the way back to Damascus to find a decent toilet. SANA is reporting to all concerned citizens. Be calm, while it would be nice to control the best toilet in Southern Syria, the regime has everything under control. Controlling this toilet in no way poses a threat to the Syrian government.

        Reply to this comment
        • niallfraserlove June 9, 23:03

          I’m sure the lack of loos is no prob for Mrs Shabaan since when ever she speaks her faecal matter is released. The Baathist elite’s delusions that they will win or people like them has blocked their bowls. SANA just eats Bashar’s digested food so he has no issue. The rest of Baathist elite’s delusions that they will win or people like them has blocked their bowls.So they don’t care. Most of the SAA are getting mowed down so fast they don’t have time to fart let along poop.

          Reply to this comment
  3. Scott Lucas Author June 9, 13:00

    All,

    No lifting of other readers’ screen names. It gets way too confusing for a moderator and for people seeking information and insights from the comments.

    I like effective satire, but there are other ways to do this.

    S.

    Reply to this comment
  4. ForSyria June 9, 12:51

    52 Base: I am indeed a little frustrated that Rebels needed several hours to capture it, while they took Whole Ariha in 3 hours!! Kinda slow. May be Assadists did not have proper shoes to run. Its a real pity.

    Reply to this comment
    • Ali ''Beast'' ani June 9, 12:57

      Liar! 52 base is still at the hands of Assad. We could not manage proper vehicle to relocate yet. Once it is air dropped we will soon relocate to a new position from where we will mount fierce offensive to retake it. We did the same in Ariha, Jisr Al Shughur and of course in the Idleb city. Just remember, we are more powerful when we ‘relocate”

      Reply to this comment
      • Kazemi June 9, 19:43

        Assad will go down in Syrian history as the brainchild of the military tactic of abandoning a position so that if they can retake it, they can then declare victory. A brilliant commander he is.

        Reply to this comment
  5. CyberR (@CyberRaja) June 9, 12:10

    Mark ‏@markito0171 8m8 minutes ago

    #Syria First army of #FSA declare full control of Brigade 52 base in #Daraa province

    Reply to this comment
  6. Jon H June 9, 12:08

    Amusing, but also a real scummy thing to do.

    Reply to this comment
  7. CyberR (@CyberRaja) June 9, 11:55

    Ali, you been on the cough meds again ?

    Reply to this comment
  8. Espi June 9, 11:49

    Druze groups are mostly neutral as far as i know, aside from the fact that they are building self-defence units more and more.
    But why do they feel more safe with regime forces in Suweida then with rebels? Al Nusra for example seems to treat them not brutally.

    Reply to this comment
  9. CyberR (@CyberRaja) June 9, 11:43

    Mark ‏@markito0171

    #Syria #Daraa Seems Brigade 52 base now mainly in rebels hands

    Reply to this comment
    • Kazemi June 9, 19:25

      He who plays with fire will get burnt. Assad miscalculated the appeal of Islamism in Syria. There is a limit to the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”. His postcolonialism got the better of him.

      The whole issue of his rulership had become intractable by 2011, as the neocons had predicted (and designed) a decade ago, and he overplayed his hand. When the moment of truth arrived in 2011, he was unprepared couldn’t think out of the box, and sought to play by conventional well practiced repressive methods.

      Nobody is going to miss him, and his clique deserve every bit of what will happen to them. The whole intelligence community in Syria should be lined up against the wall and shot.

      Reply to this comment
  10. Kazemi June 9, 07:52

    The Druze need to grab the weapons and declare an independent autonomous Suweida. There is little Assad can do (probably will drop some barrel bombs as collective punishment). Then enter into talks with the FSA to partition Suweida and help the FSA to get rid of Assad in southern Syria and to push ISIS back to Palmyra.

    Maybe the Israeli Druze can help them realize an independent territory with Israeli support.

    Any delay here, and they may lose forever the opportunity for independence.

    They should also set up a safe zone financed by the international community for war refugees, and build unlimited goodwill with their neighbours.

    The FSA should not be against an autonomous federalized Suweida canton, and if they are, they should go back to the drawing board and re-examine their priorities.

    Reply to this comment
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