Khaberni - The head of the Druze community in As-Suwayda, Hikmat Al-Hajri, in a message speaking about his demands, published today, Saturday, October 11, used the term "Mount Bashan" instead of As-Suwayda, or the commonly known "Jabal al-Arab".
Al-Hajri, in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General, the members of the International Security Council, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Arab League, and Amnesty International, said that "Mount Bashan" (a Hebrew name for Jabal al-Arab), has been suffering "for months from a comprehensive and harsh siege threatening the lives of civilians".
The term "Mount Bashan" is a Hebrew name for Jabal al-Arab, which means "flat or smooth land", and it is a province in "Land of Canaan" (a civilization that existed between 3000 BC to 1200 BC), located to the east of Jordan between Mount Hermon (Mount Al Sheikh in Syria) and "Gilead" (an ancient name for the mountains of Ajloun in northwest Jordan).
And it was named "Bashan" from a mountain in that region, where it is mentioned in Psalms in the "Torah" (the Holy Book of Jews) in four forms: "Mountain of God, Mount Bashan, O many peaks, Mount Bashan.
According to "The Bible Encyclopedia", Bashan "included Hauran, Golan, and Lajat, all of which are composed of volcanic rocks and soils, its soil is very fertile and its water abundant. Wheat, barley, sesame, corn, lentils, and vetch are grown in it."
And as stated in the encyclopedia, it is bordered to the north by Damascus lands, to the east by the Syrian desert, to the south by "Land of Gilead", and to the west by the Jordan Valley, and "Mount Druze" cuts through its eastern side, which is the old "Mount Bashan".
Israel has named its operations against Syria since the fall of the Assad regime as "Operation Arrow Bashan", where it launched about a thousand airstrikes, destroying about 80% of Syria's military capabilities, and executed about 400 incursions into Syrian territory, according to what the Syrian President, Ahmad Al-Shar`, said in a previous stance.
Concurrent with the events of Sahnaaya and Jaramana in the previous March, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Minister of War, Israel Katz, issued their instructions to the army to prepare for the defense of the city of Jaramana, inhabited mostly by Druze, three kilometers from the center of Damascus, against the new Syrian government.
Netanyahu and Katz said, "We have issued instructions to the Israeli army to prepare and send a sharp and clear warning message: If the regime harms the Druze, we will harm it."
Concurrent with the "As-Suwayda events" last July, both the head of the Druze community in Israel, Mowafaq Tarif, and the sheikh of mind of the Druze community Hikmat Al-Hajri called for Israeli intervention against government forces.
Al-Hajri in a statement to U.S. President Donald Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on them to save As-Suwayda from what he described as the "oppressive tyrannical ruling elite", saying, "We are no longer able to coexist with a regime that knows of governance only iron and fire, and of power only oppression and abuse".
Following Al-Hajri's statement, Israel targeted Syrian army points near As-Suwayda and in southern Syria, the general staff building in Umayyad Square in Damascus, and near the presidential palace.
