The fighting in Jaramana and Sahnaya, where Christians and Druze live, as well as in Soueïda with a Druze majority, woke up the spectrum of massacres which left more than 1,700 dead in early March, in the vast majority of members of the Alawite minority.
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The violence had been launched by pro-assad attacks on the security forces. This time, it is an unauthenticated message insulting Islam and charged to a Druze that set fire to the powder.
Israel called for the international community to “protect minorities in Syria – in particular the Druzes – of the regime and its terrorist bands”, by the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army had carried out strikes near Damascus, “a warning action” against an “extremist group which was preparing to attack the Druze population of the city of Sahnaya” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Druzes are a minority from Shiite Islam. Its members are distributed in particular between Lebanon, Syria and Israel. Alawites are another minority branch of Islam, while Sunnism and Shiism are the two main currents.
The fighting in Syria was launched on Monday evening by an attack of armed groups affiliated to power against Jaramana, after the broadcast on the social networks of an audio message attributed to a Druze and judged blasphemous with regard to the Prophet Muhammad. AFP could not verify the authenticity of the message.
Syrian authorities have accused uncontrolled elements of having caused violence.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), 30 members of the affiliated security forces and fighters were killed, as well as 21 Druzes and 10 civilians on Tuesday and Wednesday in Jaramana and Sahnaya. In the province of Soueida (South), 40 Druzes fighters perished, including 35 in an ambush, according to the NGO.
In Jaramana, agreements between representatives of the Druzes and power made it possible to restore calm on Tuesday evening, and also Wednesday evening in Sahnaya 15 km southwest of Damascus, where security forces were deployed.
“Farm commitment”
On this occasion, the Syrian power reaffirmed its “firm commitment to protect all the components of the Syrian people, including the Druze community”.
From the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, overthrown by a coalition of Islamist rebel factions led by Mr. Chareh after more than 13 years of civil war, Israel has multiplied the opening gestures towards the Druzes.
The Druzes dignitaries have reaffirmed their attachment to the unity of Syria.
“By placing himself as a protector of the Druze community, Israel hopes to both find local allies, particularly in the South Syrian, but also weighing in the scale at a time when the future of Syria remains uncertain (…),” said Michael Horowitz, an independent analyst.
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