Deadly sectarian violence in Syria kills 100 people
At least 100 people have been killed in two days of sectarian violence in the Damascus area and south Syria, a war monitor has said, France 24 and AFP reported on May 1st.
Rescue staff and security sources said clashes broke out following the circulation of a voice note allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed. These altercations left 30 security forces, 42 Druze fighters, and one civilian dead, according to the UK-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The authenticity of the recording has been disputed by Druze leaders.
In Jaramana and Sahnaya, suburbs of Damascus, a truce was made after talks between Druze representatives and government officials. Meanwhile, 23 Druze fighters were killed in an ambush on the Suweyda-Damascus road.
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, Syria’s Druze spiritual leader, denounced what he referred to as a “genocidal campaign” against his community and urged international forces to intervene.
He said he no longer has faith in “an entity pretending to be a government … because the government does not kill its people through its extremist militias … and then claim they were unruly elements after the massacres.”
The government has deployed forces to Sahnaya and blamed “outlaw groups” for the violence. In a statement, the Syrian foreign ministry pledged to “protect all components” of society, such as the Druze, and conveyed its dismissal of “foreign interference”.
The clashes come weeks after over 1,700 civilians, mainly Alawites, were reportedly killed in Syria’s coast, in what is reported to be the deadliest episode since Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power in December.
Beyond sectarian violence, Syria still faces a threat of a persistent Israeli presence. The Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, said on April 16th that Israel’s troops will indefinitely stay in security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and the Gaza Strip, France 24 reported.
Despite this, Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has expressed an inclination to normalise ties with Israel, Middle East Eye reported on April 24th.
Al-Sharaa said to Republican congressman Cory Mills that with the “right conditions,” Syria would join the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco in the Abraham Accords.
France 24, AFP, Middle East Eye
