Syrian Pro-Regime Druze Religious Leader Dead, Jumblat Says He Won't Mourn Him
One of Syria's top three Druze religious leaders Sheikh Hussein al-Jarbua, who had close ties to the regime of President Bashar Assad, has died of cancer, state news agency SANA said on Thursday.
PSP leader Walid Jumblat commented on al-Jarbua's death to Agence France Presse, saying that he “will not shed even one tear for a man who supported till the end a regime that massacres its people and whose son Nazih has given out weapons to the shabiha (pro-regime militia),"
Meanwhile, Hikmat al-Ajari, another Syrian Druze leader said: "The Druze of Lebanon and Syria lost on Wednesday evening a generous man, who devoted his life to the public interest and who was known for his patriotism and his calls for peace,".
Father of three boys and seven girls, Jarbua succeeded his father Ahmed and was appointed one of the Druze community's three leaders in 1965.
His funeral will be held in the province of Sweida, home to the majority of Syria's Druze.
Jarbua's cousin Youssef has been chosen to succeed him.
Another Druze leader, Hamoud al-Hinawi, has remained neutral in Syria's spiraling conflict.
In May, he negotiated with Sunni Muslim tribes of the southern province of Daraa the release of 13 Druze policemen in exchange for 150 Sunni prisoners.
On Wednesday, after 21 anti-regime fighters were killed while attacking the Druze village of Mseimar, residents took eight rebels hostage.
Hours later, the Daraa-based rebels captured 15 Druze in exchange, and Hinawi is negotiating a new prisoner exchange.
Syria's Druze constitute three percent of the country's population of 23 million.
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