Sweida movement. A revival of the revolution? Or a whirlwind in a cup?

Syrian political thinker Maher Sharaf al-Din says that the people of southern Syria have returned to the revolution against the regime of Bashar al-Assad as they started it in 2011, while Mahmoud al-Affendi, secretary-general of the Syrian Popular Diplomacy Movement (pro-regime), says that what is happening in the city of Suwayda is nothing but a whirlwind in a cup whose engines seek to secede from Syria and not to overthrow its political system.

After years of silence following Assad and his forces regaining control of most of Syrian territory with Iranian-Russian support, the people of Suwayda (Druze) came out a month and a half ago to destroy the statue of Assad the father and the symbols of the Baath regime and trample them with their shoes, and re-demand the departure of Assad Jr.

Not only did it stop at reviving the revolutionary movement, but it took a remarkable political path when the spiritual leader of Syria's Druze Almohads, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, turned phone calls from U.S. officials, including Republican Senator French Hill and representative of the House of Representatives at the United Nations.

Al-Hijri also received a phone call from both Republican Representative Joe Wilson and Democratic Representative Brendan Boyle, who is preparing with Hill Orabi the "Captagon" law issued earlier by President Biden and concerns "the Assad government's drug trafficking."

With the growing political and popular momentum in Suwayda, which the American think tank The Atlantic Council said would continue until the Syrian regime change, Maher Sharafeddine went on to describe these demonstrations as a second wave of the Syrian revolution that will not stop until Assad leaves.

During his participation in the episode (3/10/2023) of the program "The Opposite Direction", Sharaf al-Din said that the most important thing that the Druze minority movement in Suwayda did was that it dropped the card of protecting minorities that the regime had hidden behind for years, which put Assad in a state of confusion because he could not talk about political Islam or the Muslim Brotherhood in this region.

While the supporters of the Syrian regime greatly underestimate this new movement and label it as employment and sectarian separatism, Sharaf al-Din asserts that what the people of Suwayda did proved to everyone at home and abroad that the Syrian people will not rest until their demands, which revolve around the overthrow of the "ruling junta", as he put it, are achieved.

A storm in a tea cup

On the other hand, Mahmoud al-Affendi, secretary-general of the Syrian Popular Diplomacy Movement, believes that what Suwayda witnessed is a separatist movement, not a revolutionary, and is nothing more than a "whirlwind in a cup," as he described.

In addition, Effendi says that what happened was not a movement in the true sense because it lasted two days under Druze separatist slogans and then retreated after it did not find an echo at home or abroad.

According to Effendi, Karama Square, which was the center of the protests, can not accommodate more than two thousand people, a number that does not represent Syrians or even the people of Suwayda themselves, he says.

Just as the Syrian regime's media tools picked up Western communications with Hijri as evidence that a foreign conspiracy was being hatched against Syria through Suwayda, Effendi also went on to talk about a conspiracy run by some Druze collaborators with Israel from the city's Druze.

Not only that, but it has gone so far as to prevent the raising of any other flag in demonstrations other than the Druze flag, in addition to the 2011 slogans demanding the fall of the regime, slogans that are no longer accepted internationally or regionally in light of the recent political changes, according to Affendi.

Most importantly, from Effendi's point of view, the Suwayda movement was "stillborn", because if it had been a revolution, Bashar al-Assad would not have traveled to China and Damascus and other cities in Syria would not have abandoned it, "which refused to be swayed by calls for secession and sectarianism."

But Sharafeddine responded to these claims that the demonstrators in Karama Square were in the thousands, in addition to the demonstrations in villages, towns and others, and said that the exit of part of the people represents the people and that not everyone is required to take to the streets in order for the regime to admit that it is rejected.

Regarding the direction of the separatist movement, Sharafeddine said that the regime has always labeled all demands for his departure, describing Sunni Muslims as terrorists, describing the Druze as separatists, and so on.

Regarding the lack of involvement of other cities in the movement, Sharaf al-Din said that some regional countries trying to help Assad have communicated and are still communicating with sheikhs and tribal leaders in many areas to discourage them from participating in the movement and convince them that what is happening is a foreign conspiracy and a prelude to the separation of the Druze.

However, Suwayda – adds Sharaf al-Din – which was the starting point for the re-liberation of Syria in the twenties of the last century will also be a starting point for its reunification now, and just as the south (the city of Daraa) was the starting point for the revolution 12 years ago, it is he who will end it from Suwayda, because all Syria's revolutions historically began from Jabal al-Arab (the south) and ended in it, which will happen with Assad, as he put it.