In an offensive media campaign that is not without precedent in its purpose, if not form, the Syrian regime has released videos of three people wearing the religious dress of Druze chieftains, making a field trip to the occupied city of Qusair, along with a number of militants and mercenaries.
The regime media machine presented the visit as a tour of Druze chiefs and leading religious councilors within the context of the "liberation of Qusair from armed gangs."
According to activist sources from the mainly Druze heartland Sweida governorate, the visit prompted angry reactions, with some saying it fitted the regime’s attempt to spread sectarianism and extremism.
As a result of the visit, members of the Druze sect were attacked, reflecting an ignorance of the reality on the ground.
Druze human rights activist Rima Flehan published a post on her personal web page pointing out that those in the photo are in fact regime agents and members of a mercenary group that were rejected and exiled from the province for religious reasons. One of them, she said is Ayman Zuhr al-Din, who, with his history of criminality and bad reputation, was banished from Sweida. She said those people do not reflect the opinions or behaviors of the majority of the Druze sect.
Translated and edited by the Syrian Observer
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