![Hundreds of Syrians from the Druze community of the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights demonstrate against an Israeli colonization project targeting their lands on Jun 21, 2023 [@QudsNen/Twitter]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/FzJBoeIXsAAexEJ-e1687357826939.jpeg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Syrian Druze spiritual leader Hikmet Al-Hijri said yesterday that the religious group’s aims are “purely nationally Syrian”, stressing that they do not seek division in the country.
He made his remarks as he hosted a delegation from the city of Jaramana in the Damascus countryside in Sweida, according to videos aired by local media.
Al-Hijri said: “Our project is a purely national Syrian project, and includes the unity of Syria’s land and people. We will not discuss ideas that go beyond that, and we do not seek, God forbid, division or partition, we want to preserve our roots.”
On Friday evening, Jaramana witnessed security tensions that led to the killing of a member of the security services by an armed militia called Jaramana Shield, which is linked to the former regime.
Israel is trying to exploit these tensions, as the official Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said on Saturday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz instructed the occupation army to prepare to protect the Druze area of Jaramana, about 60 kilometres from the Israeli border.
However, the leaders of the Syrian city rejected the Israeli position and considered it a form of interference in their country’s internal affairs.
Since the overthrow of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime, the Military Operations Administration has opened centres to settle matters with members of the ousted regime and to hand over their weapons, but some of them refused to commit to this initiative, which led to clashes in several governorates.
Israel took advantage of the events that led to the overthrow of Al-Assad and expanded its occupation of the Golan Heights, along with the Syrian buffer zone and destroyed Syrian military equipment and ammunition through hundreds of air strikes.