00:00So you mentioned the Druze community, the importance of their role in this very complex equation.
00:05Tell us more about what we need to know about the Druze.
00:07Well, when it comes to the Druze, what's particular about them is that they are transnational as well as national associations, right?
00:16So the Druze are a community that's basically centered around the Jabal Druze, the Druze Mountains, and Mount Lebanon, okay?
00:24So if you look at a map of where this community is located in the Middle East, you know, they're spread across three borders, three international borders.
00:34In Israel, they're mostly in the northern Galilee region and the Golan Heights, which Syria annexed from Israel in 1967.
00:43In Lebanon, they're centered around Mount Lebanon, and they play an important role in Lebanese politics.
00:49In Syria, they are mostly in the Soweda province that we were talking about, but you also have Druze community members living in the southern suburbs of Damascus, for instance.
01:00So, you know, the Druze community may have different passports, different nationalities, but there's something that binds them, and that's this religion, right?
01:09And suddenly, you know, we are all exposed to this, you know, this offshoot of Shiism of the 12th century.
01:15It's a very esoteric religion.
01:19I mean, you know, the structures of the religion are such that lay people are not given the wisdom of this religion.
01:28You know, that is left to the sheikhs, the big clerics.
01:31And there are five big sheikhs.
01:33They're called sheikhs al-Aql, you know, the sheikhs of wisdom.
01:37And here's where they are based, you know.
01:40So Syria has three sheikhs al-Aql, there's one in Israel and one in Lebanon.
01:46Now, what is particular about Syria, about what's happening, is that these religious leaders are being forced to turn into political leaders, right?
01:55Unlike in Lebanon, for instance, where there is, they have a sheikh al-Aql, but there is a politician.
02:01And, you know, if you're as old as us or as me, most people will remember the Lebanese-Jews politician, Walid Yumblat, you know.
02:13So he is not a religious leader, but he's a politician and a very wily politician.
02:18Through the Lebanese civil war, he maneuvered all the players, but everybody understood that he was looking out for the Jews' community interests.
02:26In Israel, the Jews are very integrated in the Israeli state, and in some ways they are even pushing what's happening in the Middle East today.
02:36They have Knesset members, they even have cabinet ministers, and they serve in the Israeli army.
02:42In Syria, what happens with the Assad for half a century was that these sheikhs were just put under patronage, you know, they were paid stipends, given houses, in return for loyalty to the big man in Damascus.
02:56And what we are now needs are political figures in order to work representative democracy, because what we saw in the past 48 hours are literally one sheikh declaring a ceasefire.
03:08In this case, Sheikh Yusuf Jabru declaring a ceasefire only for that ceasefire to be rescinded by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri.
03:17And Hikmat al-Hijri, you know, this is a sheikh that everybody is watching because he's very opposed to Damascus.
03:24And people who are suspicious think that he's getting too close to Israel.
03:28So, you know, this is a dynamic in Syria that's going to be extremely hard to unwind.
03:34Then there are militias.
03:36These militias, these Druze militias, erupted during the Syrian civil war.
03:41There is a Syrian, there is a Sueda military council that basically appears to be answering to Sheikh Hikmat.
03:48There needs to be a demobilization.
03:50We all know that there are all armed fighters there.
03:54But in order for that to happen, you need local politicians to represent the community, because as it is, the community has very valid fears about, you know, the Sunni Muslims who they fear are Sunni Islamists controlling the entire country.
04:09And this is why, you know, pressure needs to be brought if Syria needs to be stable, because if Syria remains weak, we're going to see a very, very dangerous time in a very volatile region.
04:23Clash is continuing in Syria.
04:25Lila Jacinta with the analysis.
04:26Thank you very much indeed.
04:27As always, Lila, our international affairs editor, we are watching, of course, for all developments on the ground in Syria, where we understand Bedouin and Druze clashing once again.
04:38Some 500 lives have been lost since last weekend in the on-off conflict that is going on there on the ground.
