Pro-Assad supporters among village’s Druze community insist the Syrian president couldn’t have been responsible for such attacks, and so they’re protesting against any int’l intervention, saying ‘Assad managed to maintain calm on Syria-Israel border for 40 years’

By Maor Buchnik

Several hundreds attended a pro-Assad in the Druze village of Majdal Shams Monday, carrying banners in favor of the Syrian president and condemning the prospect of a US attack on Syria.

Majdal Shams demonstration – Photo: Aviyahu Shapira

Zahad, local resident and a café owner, noted that protesters were interested in keeping Assad in the government and noted that he was also “against foreign intervention in the country, and not just because of Majdal Shams – it would be dangerous for Israel as well.”

Zahad added that though people had different opinions regarding international intervention, “everyone wants peace.”

Majdal Shams demonstration – Photo: Aviyahu Shapira

He insisted that support of Assad stemmed from the fact that “Assad has managed to maintain calm in the Israel-Syria border for 40 years. If someone else steps in, calm will not necessarily persist.”

Monday was not the first time pro-Assad rallies are held in the Druze village. The Druze support of Assad culminated in rallies following testimonies of the death of at least 30 people in May, in response to which, many Assad supporters in the Druze community insisted that the Syrian president could not possibly be behind the massacre.

Religious Druze protesting – Photo: Aviyahu Shapira

They pointed blame at Israel and the US, as well as at Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which, they claimed, were plotting against the Damascus regime.

Majdal Shams resident Hassan Pakhar Aldin said that “US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are concocting false allegation against the Syrian regime, because it supports Hezbollah and the Palestinian issue and fights for the returning of lands occupied by Israel.”

Majdal Shams demonstration – Photo: Aviyahu Shapira

Aldin insisted that those who are responsible for the massacres in Syria are “extremist Islamists who are assisted by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are using the extremists’ socioeconomic state by giving them money and approval to kill people and brainwashing and misleading them via Islam, telling them that those who participate in the fight belongs in heaven.”

View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4425563,00.html