Thirty Druze factions merge to defend Suwayda following July massacres
Syrian authorities have excluded Suwayda and the Kurdish-controlled north east from participating in elections for a transitional parliament
Local armed factions in the Druze-majority governorate of Suwayda in southern Syria announced on 24 August the formation of the "National Guard" under the leadership of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri.
The new military formation brings together 30 local factions to better protect Suwayda following the killing of Druze fighters and civilians by forces loyal to interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in July.
The announcement of the National Guard was made through a recorded statement published on the guard's official Facebook page.
The statement expressed "our condolences to the souls of our righteous martyrs who died in battles of honor and dignity," to defend the Druze "against abhorrent Salafist gangs who practiced murder and terrorism in the name of an alleged state that made no distinction between human and stone."
According to the UN, Sharaa's forces killed at least 1,000 Druze fighters and civilians, including 196 people who were extrajudicially executed during a week-long invasion of Suwayda beginning on 13 July.
The UN also highlighted the abduction of at least 105 Druze women and girls by armed groups affiliated with the Syrian authorities, of whom 80 are still missing.
The National Guard statement expressed loyalty to the Druze religious leadership, represented by Hijri, whom they describe as the legitimate representative of the Druze community in Suwayda.
The statement added that the National Guard constitutes the Druze community's official military body.
Factions announcing their participation include the Saif al-Haqq Forces, Al-Fahd Forces, Al-Uliya Forces, and others.
The formation of the National Guard also received support from the Men of Dignity movement, which welcomed the establishment of an "organized military body" to defend the Druze community against covetous invaders."
The Syrian government's massacre of Druze in Suwayda has led many of the religious minority to endorse separating from the Syrian state to instead become an autonomous region under international protection.
At recent demonstrations in Suwayda, which remains besieged by Sharaa's forces, some Druze held Israeli flags. Some in Suwayda wish to live under Israeli protection, in part due to the influence of Druze relatives who are citizens of Israel.
Israel has sought to exploit the horrific attacks against Druze in July in an effort to intervene further in southern Syria.
Israel is seeking to establish the so-called David's Corridor to link the land it occupies in the Golan Heights with territory in northeast Syria controlled by US-backed Kurdish forces known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
The massacre of Druze and, before that, the targeted killings of over 1,600 Alawite civilians in March, have made Syrian Kurds reluctant to give up their weapons and relinquish control of the autonomous region and its oil wealth.
In a further sign that Syria is splintering, Syria's Supreme Election Committee announced on Saturday that the Druze and Kurdish-controlled regions of the country would not be allowed to participate in the process of electing members of Syria's transitional parliament.
Citing "security concerns," the election committee said the process to choose a new 210-seat parliament would be postponed in Suwayda, Raqqa, and Hasaka Governorates.
President Sharaa, the former Islamic State in Iraq commander, will choose 70 of the parliament's new members, while local electoral councils formed by his government will choose the remaining 140.
On Sunday, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) criticized the exclusion of Kurdish-controlled governorates.
"These elections are neither democratic nor express the will of Syrians in any way," a statement issued by AANES said.
It added that "defining our regions as unsafe" was carried out "to justify the policy of denial for more than five million Syrians" in the area.