Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, spiritual leader of Syria's Druze community, affirmed full support for Kurdish rights and congratulated residents on the Syrian coast for their awakening and rejection of injustice in their areas, according to an X post by @vvanwilgenburg shared between 7:16 PM and 9:16 PM UTC on December 18. Hijri stated, "We affirm our full support for the rights of our Kurdish brothers, and we support and congratulate our brothers on the Syrian coast for their awakening and their rejection of injustice in their areas," as quoted in the post during this period. This statement comes amid ongoing post-Assad developments nearly one year after Bashar al-Assad's ouster in December 2024, including Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon calling earlier on December 18 for a demilitarized zone from Damascus to the Israeli-Syrian buffer zone to defend Druze allies, according to an X post by @Osint613. Kurds have been involved in negotiations with the Syrian government to retain three divisions within the Syrian army structure, as reported earlier Thursday by Rudaw and X posts from @nes_comm and @SyriaTransition, while the UN High Commissioner for Refugees noted over 3.2 million Syrian returns since Assad's fall in a flash update shared between 6:46 PM and 7:16 PM UTC on December 18.
