Druze leader renews incitement against Syrian state, calls followers ‘part of Israel’

Hikmat al-Hijri, a Druze leader in Syria’s southern Suwayda province, has once again escalated his incitement against the Syrian state, openly declaring that his followers are an “inseparable part of Israel, ”Anadolu reports. Al-Hijri made the remarks in an interview published Tuesday by the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth. The Druze community in Suwayda has three religious authorities whose positions occasionally diverge: Hikmat al-Hijri, Hammoud Yahya al-Hinnawi, and Yusuf Jarbou’. Followers of al-Hijri represent a minority and are not viewed as representative of the Druze community in the province. “We see ourselves as an inseparable part of the existence of the State of Israel. This relationship is international and of critical importance,” al-Hijri said. Despite Israel’s repeated military attacks across the […]