Lebanese Leaders Slam 'Massacre' of Idlib Druze as Wahhab Urges Mobilization
Several Lebanese leaders on Thursday condemned as “massacre” the mass killing of Druze residents in the Syrian town of Qalb Lawzah at the hands of the Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front, as Arab Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab declared that the Druze of Lebanon and Syria stand ready to fight the extremist groups.
“Regardless of its circumstances and motives, this massacre is unacceptable in all standards,” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said at a press conference in Maarab.
“We are against (Syrian President) Bashar Assad's regime because it commits such acts and we're also against anyone who performs such acts,” added Geagea.
He called on the political and military leaderships of the Syrian opposition to “raise the voice and clarify what happened in order to take the necessary measures against the perpetrators of this massacre to avoid the recurrence of such a tragedy.”
The LF leader also urged the countries that support the opposition to “intervene firmly to put an end to some groups that are committing such acts.”
“It did not take all this effort to get rid of a certain savagery for it to be replaced by another savagery,” he added.
At least 20 members of Syria's Druze minority were killed in an unprecedented shoot-out with al-Nusra in the Idlib province town of Qalb Lawzah, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday.
The Observatory said the shooting erupted after a Tunisian al-Nusra leader "tried to seize a house belonging to a Druze resident of Qalb Lawzah."
"The Tunisian leader then brought his men and accused the Druze residents of the village of blasphemy and opened fire on them killing at least 20 people, among them elderly people and at least one child."
Earlier on Thursday, ex-minister Wahhab warned that the possible fall of the Druze-majority Syrian province of Sweida into rebel hands would represent “a fall for us all.”
“We will not accept this and faithful Druze from all Lebanese regions are ready to fight,” he added.
“We will all take up arms, here and elsewhere, and anyone on Lebanese soil who has ties to al-Nusra Front or is collaborating with it is unwelcome, and they better leave this land because the reactions cannot be contained,” Wahhab warned.
He called on Assad and the Syrian government to supply arms to Sweida's residents, urging “everyone in Lebanon and elsewhere to take up arms and stand by our people.”
“We have the ability to create an army comprising more than 200,000 Druze from Syria, Lebanon and the world to defend Sweida,” Wahhab underlined.
Sweida province has been spared much of the fighting in Syria, and remains almost entirely under regime control. However, Syrian rebels claimed Thursday that they seized most of a key military airport in Sweida and shot down a warplane nearby.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tammam Salam deplored the Qalb Lawzah “massacre,” warning that it is part of “the takfiri forces' efforts to stir sedition among the sons of the same country.”
Speaker Nabih Berri also condemned the mass killing in the Syrian town.
For his part, al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri telephoned Druze leader MP Walid Jumblat and condemned “the armed attack that targeted the town of Qalb Lawzah.”
“The worst that the Syrian revolution might descend to is volunteering in combat missions that only provide free services to the Bashar Assad Regime,” Hariri warned, describing the Qalb Lawzah killings as “an example of the appalling behavior that is harming the Syrian people and their revolution.”
“As we express our solidarity with the families of the victims, and with our people and brothers in the Druze community of Lebanon and Syria, we call for emulating the noble national stance of Progressive Socialist Party leader Mr. Walid Jumblat,” Hariri added.
He noted that Jumblat has been warning for years against “the Syrian regime's attempts to implicate the religious and communal groups in its futile wars, and to use them as human shields to defend its political entity.”
Jumblat had warned Thursday morning that "any inflammatory remarks about the Idlib incidents could further complicate the situation.”
“Bashar Assad's policy has led Syria into this chaos … I reiterate my stance on the importance of reaching a reconciliation with the residents of Daraa and the neighboring areas,” the Druze leader tweeted.
Y.R.
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/181780 |