Anti-Assad protesters won't give up, leading Syrian Druze dissident vows

Suhail Thubian says state-sponsored drugs trade has contributed to protests in Suweida against regime

Suhail Thubian, front right wearing a scarf, at a demonstration at the grave of nationalist leader Sultan Basha Al Atrash in Suweida governorate. Photo: Suhail Thubian / Facebook

An influential figure in the protest movement against President Bashar Al Assad in the south-western governorate of Suweida on Monday urged world powers to trigger dormant international agreements requiring political change in Syria.

Suhail Thubian, a former political prisoner who commands widespread respect among the mainly young demonstrators, told The National recent lawlessness in Syria had been worsened by what he described as state-sponsored drugs trafficking.

The continuing economic collapse was a factor that had led to the mainly Druze area erupting in mass disorder, he said.

Anti-Assad demonstrations continued on Monday in Suweida for the ninth day running, with residents reporting makeshift road blocks at the entrances to the governorate, set up to prevent authorities from sending more secret police into the area.

“The cup has overflowed," Mr Thubian said by phone from Suweida. "These are graduates, doctors, pharmacists and lawyers. They face a dark present and a murky future.

"They had to express themselves in the way we are seeing now."

Born in 1964, Mr Thubian, a sculptor by profession, spent six years in prison under Hafez Al Assad's presidency in the 1980s and 1990s for being a Communist opponent of his rule, although Al Assad, who died in 2000, was a staunch ally of the Soviet Union at the time.

The elder Assad was succeeded by his son Bashar, an ophthalmologist who was thrust into the family's political hierarchy after his brother and heir apparent, Bassel, died in a car crash in 1996.

Mr Thubian said many of the marchers in Suweida belong a generation influenced by Syria's pro-democracy revolt in 2011, although they might not have participated in it.

The Syrian revolt became militarised in 2011, after the authorities used violence to suppress the mainly Sunni protest movement and Mr Al Assad largely kept together an alliance of religious and ethnic minorities.

But this month Suweida has “turned the page” on the President, with young men and women "tearing down his posters and writing slogans are all over the walls for his downfall," Mr Thubian said.

War on Captagon

He said a booming narcotics trade has contributed to the breakdown of ties between Suweida and Mr Al Assad, especially with the religious leadership of the Druze, the traditional families and educated classes.

Mr Al Assad, he said, has negated "any pretext" for international powers to keep him as the best option for Syria, “by becoming a narcotics dealer".

“From the head of the pyramid to its base, this regime is responsible directly for the narcotics," he said.

In an interview this month, Mr Al Assad denied any state connection to the drugs trade, which emanates from areas under the control of his forces in southern Syria.

Arab officials say the trade is worth billions of dollars a year, while analysts say much of the revenue goes to the ruling elite in Damascus and Iranian-supervised militias.

"Why does the international community still recognise him as head of Syria?" Mr Thubian said.

"Come and talk with us. Our hands are open and our demands are simple: implement the international resolutions."

In 2015, intervention by Russia on the side of the President in the civil war undermined a series of international deals on Syria, particularly the 2012 Geneva Declaration, which called for an interim period and a traditional governing body in the country.

Instead, Moscow formed its own diplomatic track on Syria, with Iran and Turkey as "guarantor" countries. The three nations separately carved out zones of influence in Syria managed by their proxies, with the US also forming its own sphere of influence.

All foreign sides have trained and equipped various militias or state-linked paramilitary groups.

But UN resolution 2254 remains the most recognised basis by which to solve the conflict in Syria.

The resolution, passed six weeks after the Russian intervention, toned down past international deals but kept open the possibility for a transition of power in Syria.

Mr Thubian said if the protest movement spreads to other governorates, including Mr Al Assad’s Alawite heartland, from which the core of his security forces is drawn, then "the regime will fall".

“But we are continuing in Suweida," Mr Thubian said. "There is no going back."