Syrian Druze chief condemns ‘genocidal marketing campaign’ after dozens killed in clashes south of Damascus.
A pacesetter of Syria’s Druze minority has condemned assaults in opposition to his group after dozens of individuals had been killed in two days of sectarian clashes south of Damascus.
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri on Thursday denounced the violence in Jaramana and Sahnaya close to Damascus earlier this week as a “genocidal marketing campaign” in opposition to the Druze group in Syria.
Syria’s Ministry of Info mentioned 11 members of the nation’s safety forces had been killed in two separate assaults.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a conflict monitor, mentioned not less than 101 individuals had been killed in combating between safety forces, allied fighters and native Druze teams.
The SOHR, which depends on a community of sources in Syria, mentioned the loss of life toll included 30 authorities loyalists, 21 Druze fighters and 10 civilians, together with Sahnaya’s former mayor, Husam Warwar.
Within the southern province of Sweida, heartland of the Druze minority, it mentioned 40 Druze fighters had been killed, 35 in an “ambush” on the Sweida-Damascus street on Wednesday.
The clashes broke out round midnight Monday after an audio clip circulated on social media of a person criticising Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The audio was attributed to a Druze scholar. However the scholar, Marwan Kiwan, mentioned in a video posted on social media that he was not chargeable for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Syrian government mentioned a deal was reached between Druze dignitaries and official representatives after which safety forces and pro-government fighters entered Sahnaya and Druze gunmen withdrew from the streets.
Movies on social media confirmed what gave the impression to be pro-government armed teams beating Druze males that they had captured in Sahnaya and making offensive sectarian remarks.
“This collective killing is systematic, clear, seen, and documented,” learn al-Hijri’s assertion. “We now not belief a gaggle that calls itself a authorities, as a result of the federal government doesn’t kill its personal individuals via extremist gangs which can be loyal to it, and after the bloodbath claims they’re free forces.”
The violence poses a severe problem to the nation’s new authorities, who toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December. It comes after a wave of massacres in March in Syria’s Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast by which safety forces and allied teams killed greater than 1,700 civilians, largely Alawite, in line with the SOHR.
Syrian authorities reject overseas intervention
Israeli officers have expressed help for the Druze, with Defence Minister Israel Katz warning his nation would reply “with vital drive” if Syria’s new authorities fail to guard the minority group.
In a later assertion, Katz mentioned, “Ought to the assaults on the Druze resume and the Syrian regime fail to stop them, Israel will reply with vital drive.”
International Minister Asaad al-Shaibani on Thursday reiterated Syria’s rejection of calls for for worldwide intervention, posting on X that “nationwide unity is the stable basis for any strategy of stability or revival”.
“Any name for exterior intervention, underneath any pretext or slogan, solely results in additional deterioration and division,” he added.
Most Druze non secular leaders and factions have opted to air their grievances in closed communication with the brand new authorities, however considerations have heightened after a crackdown on al-Assad loyalists in Syria’s coastal province changed into a sequence of focused revenge assaults in opposition to the Alawite minority group.
Movies broadly circulated of homes burned down and bloodied our bodies of Alawite on the streets. Tens of hundreds of Alawite fled south to neighbouring Lebanon, and plenty of are too scared to return.
The Druze have since change into reluctant to lay down their arms, which they are saying they want for defense.
