Israeli Druze leader seeks US security guarantees for Syrian minority |
By Olivia Le Poidevin and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
GENEVA, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Israeli Druze leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif urged the United States to guarantee the security of the Druze community in Syria to prevent a recurrence of intense violence earlier this year in Sweida, a Druze-majority province in Sunni-dominated Syria.
Washington needed to fulfill its "duty" to safeguard the rights of Syria's minorities in order to encourage stability, Tarif told Reuters on Tuesday during an official visit to the U.N. in Geneva, adding that U.S. support would also remove the need for Israeli intervention in Syria's south.
"We hope that the United States, President Trump, and America as a great power, we want it to guarantee the rights of all minorities in Syria ... preventing any........