Recently, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights witnessed protests by Druze locals- the main remaining original inhabitants of the area following Israel's seizure of the Golan Heights in 1967 CE. The protests focused on opposition to Israeli plans to build more wind turbines in the Golan. In response to the protests and perceived Israeli transgression against their co-religionists, Druze communities in Syria engaged in demonstrations of solidarity and apparent shows of force.
Among those participating in the demonstrations was Harakat Rijal al-Karama ("Men of Dignity Movement"), a third-way faction based in the primarily Druze province of al-Suwayda'. It is worth highlighting Harakat Rijal al-Karama in this context because the Israeli analyst Ehud Yaari recently wrote an article in which he talked about Israel's supposed failures in Syria, including alleged Israeli outreach to the Druze in Syria. Specifically he writes:
"After intensive discussions with Druze dignitaries, including "The Men of Dignity," an anti-Assad group, the Israelis concluded that the Druze were not prepared to completely sever ties with the Assad regime. They were hoping to acquire arms and financial aid from Israel but not to start a full insurgency.
One reason for this conclusion was the traditional tension between the Druze and the Hauranis of Dara'a, southern Syrian Sunnis who formed the backbone of the rebel movement. A Druze request to secure a safe path to Jordan through the Hauran was a high-risk adventure with slim chance of sustained success."
This portrayal of Israeli outreach to Harakat Rijal al-Karama does not concord with my understanding of the movement. To begin with, it is not strictly accurate to characterise the group as "anti-Assad" but rather third-way in accordance with the position of its original founder (Abu Fahd Wahid al-Bal'ous): neither loyalist nor oppositionist, but patriotic and humanitarian Arab nationalists. It is because of this adherence to the third-way that since the assassination of Abu Fahd in 2015 Suwayda' has seen the rise of other factions more clearly opposed to the Syrian government, such as Quwat Shaykh al-Karama.
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