MP Jumblat Visits Russia to Discuss Protection of Syria Druze

MP Taymour Jumblat, the head of the Democratic Gathering bloc, has visited Russia to discuss the situations of the Druze community in Syria's Jabal al-Arab region in the wake of the latest Islamic State rampage and the consequent abductions and executions.

“My visit to the Russian capital and my meeting with the friend Mikhail Bogdanov, the deputy foreign minister and special envoy of the Russian president, was an opportunity to affirm the historic relation and continuous friendship with the Russian state, with which we have common struggles,” Jumblat said in a statement.

He said the visit was dedicated to “discussing the situations of the Druze sons of Jabal al-Arab and means to protect them and spare them threats and woes in which the regime is trying to entangle them.”

“We have made a series of arrangements and we are holding further discussions to guarantee their safety before anything else,” Jumblat added.

“We have witnessed the grotesque and brutal crime that the IS group has committed against them with facilitation, and perhaps instructions, from the regime, which is seeking to blackmail them with these attacks in order to re-recruit them for its ploys, topped by pushing them into the upcoming war in Idlib,” the young MP went on to say.