Syrian Acting President Aiming To Transform to a Moderate Nationalist From an Avowed Jihadist, but Minority Kurds and Druze Are Skeptical

Minority groups in Syria and some of the neighboring countries are skeptical of the transformation of Syria’s acting president, Ahmed al-Shara, to a moderate nationalist eager to unite the country under his rule from an avowed jihadist. Mr. Shara on Tuesday convened a “national dialogue,” calling on hundreds of participants who flocked to Damascus to “stand together in unity.” Yet, a prominent northern Kurdish group, the Syrian Democratic Forces — which for more than a decade allied with America to fight ISIS — was not invited to the meeting. In the south, meanwhile, leaders of another minority, the Druze, were skeptical as well. The Kurdish SDF announced it does not recognize the national dialogue. “What they said is, ‘For 13 years we were fighting ISIS, and now al-Shara is asking us to lay down our arms,’” a Kurdish source tells the Sun. The SDF might agree to become part of the Syrian national army, he adds, but only under its own uniform and insignia. The Kurds have long enjoyed de facto autonomy in Syria. They are supported by a small number of American troops stationed inside SDF-held territory. Ankara, though, considers the SDF a terrorist organization. Turkish planes often strike at the border between the two countries.One reason the SDF is pushing back against calls for unity is that President Erdogan “has a lot of influence over Joulani,” the Kurdish source said. He referred to Mr. Shara’s nom de guerre from the time he was the leader of an Al Qaeda jihadi group known as al-Nusra, which he later renamed Hayat Tahrir al Sham. While Mr. Shara was born in Saudi Arabia, he picked the Joulani pseudonym to emphasize his family’s origin in the Golan. That Israel-bordering area is now emerging as another stumbling block to his attempt to keep Syrians under his control. “We will not allow forces from the Hayat Tahrir al Sham organization or the new Syrian army to enter the area south of Damascus,” Prime Minister Netanayahu said Sunday. Israel, he vowed, will defend the Druze in the Syrian side of the Golan Heights. The Druze community is divided. Some leaders quickly swore allegiance to Mr. Shara and conducted demonstrations to protest Mr. Netanayhu’s words. Others, though, were more skeptical of Damascus’s intentions. A newly formed Druze militia, the Suwayda Military Council, vows to fight the national army.“We thank anyone supporting the Druze and defending us,” the Druze militia leader, Tareq al-Shufi, said, in an apparent reference to Mr. Netanayhu’s statement. Like the Kurds, the Druze are leery of Mr. Shara’s past affiliation with al-Nusra, an offshoot of Al Qaeda.Mr. Shara dropped his militant name in favor of his birth name and renamed his army to indicate support for the people of al-Sham, or greater Syria, rather than a greater Islamic state. “He’s a nationalist now who doesn’t talk about things like Jerusalem or Gaza, but of Syrian unity,” a Mideast historian at Haifa University, Amatzia Bar’am, tells the Sun. While Mr. Bar’am quotes President Reagan’s famous term “trust but verify,” he says, “Yasser Arafat never shed his military fatigues.” Mr. Shara, in contrast, is now wearing suits and ties. This, he says, could open opportunities for Israel to cautiously and quietly establish a dialogue with Damascus.Even after the fall of the Iran-allied Syrian dictator, though, Jerusalem tends to lean more toward verifying than trusting.“We are all happy that Assad is out, but we must have realistic expectations,” Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, told European diplomats recently. “The Islamists speak softly,” but “everyone knows who al-Shara is,” he said, adding that despite calls for unity, Damascus is exacting revenge on Mr. Assad’s Allawites and attacking the Kurds and other minorities. Israel “will not compromise the security on our border,” Mr. Saar said. “Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are acting in Syria to create another front against Israel there.”Such fears are unjustified, Mr. Shara told Druze leaders in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, according to Israel’s Kan News. “The threats to Israel from Syria — Hezbollah, the Assad regime, Iran — are no more. The government is actively working to confiscate all weapons that are smuggled to Hezbollah through Syria,” he said.Mr. Shara’s forces have indeed had several skirmishes with Hezbollah fighters, yet the Syrian army at this point is ineffective, and on Wednesday Israel struck inside Lebanon near the Syrian border. On another front, Mr. Shara traveled to Amman Wednesday, where he and King Abdullah II reportedly vowed to end smuggling on the Syrian-Jordanian border. “Jordan supports the Syrian brothers in rebuilding their country in a way that guarantees Syria’s unity, security, and stability,” King Abdullah said after the meeting. While Arab leaders and many in Europe almost uniformly support that sentiment, Syrian minorities, not to mention some of the country’s immediate neighbors, are yet to agree.

Syrian Acting President Aiming To Transform to a Moderate Nationalist From an Avowed Jihadist, but Minority Kurds and Druze Are Skeptical

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