Hikmat al-Hijri, a prominent Druze sheikh regarded as the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Syria’s southern Suwayda province, declared that the right of the province’s residents to self-determination is “inalienable.”

In an interview with Sky News Arabia, al-Hijri stated, “Our vision is based on complete independence for Suwayda province.” He noted that “the number of kidnapped people exceeds 600, including women, and the Damascus government prevents any negotiations regarding them.” He added that “the regime has not yet committed to evacuating the affected villages and continues to distort the facts.”

Al-Hijri has recently begun using a Hebrew-inspired name for the region. A few days ago, he released a new statement via the Facebook page “The Spiritual Leadership of the Unitarian Druze in Suwayda,” referring to the area not as Jabal al-Arab but as Mount Bashan—the biblical name for the region—an apparent attempt to attract Israel’s attention and support for his separatist demands.