Israel Strikes Syria After U.S. Warning, Drone Hits Tribal Fighters Convoy Near Sweida
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
12 minutes ago
- Mint
Inside Syria's sectarian cauldron: A kidnapping triggers a cascade of violence
For three days last week, Osama Bshnak Radwan and his family cowered in their townhouse as rockets, artillery and bullets pulverized their Syrian enclave. Then, five armed men in military fatigues arrived at their gate. 'Come out, Druze! Come out, you dogs!" the men shouted, according to Radwan, whose family belongs to the Druze religious minority that lives along Syria's southern border. The gunmen eventually left the gate but they entered the house next door, where they killed more than a dozen members of his extended family, he said. The killings were part of a wave of sectarian violence between Sunni Muslim Bedouins and Druze that swept through Sweida, a majority Druze province, last week. The fighting prompted Israeli warplanes to strike Syrian government forces in what Israel said was an attempt to defend the Druze. The clashes have exposed the seams in the patchwork of tribes, religions and ethnicities in Syria, where a fragile new government, dominated by Sunni Muslims, took power eight months ago. The violence lays bare the challenges of Israel's stated vision for Syria as a loose federation of autonomous states with a weak central government. Analysts say a lack of strong centralized rule will entrench sectarian divides. Even as Syria's fledgling leadership has gained international acceptance, sanctions relief and investment, it has struggled to protect its minorities and unify the nation. The divisions have sparked concerns that the nation could descend into further conflict, driven by deeply entrenched political, ethnic and religious schisms. On Tuesday, a fragile cease-fire—the fourth declared in a week—appeared to be holding amid pressure from the Trump administration, Turkey and Arab nations, though residents said Sweida remained tense. The fighting marked at least the fourth time sectarian strife has escalated into serious violence since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December. The Wall Street Journal reconstructed the events of last week's cascading violence through interviews with witnesses, community leaders and residents from both the Druze and Bedouin populations, as well as analysis of dozens of social-media posts and videos. For several centuries, the Bedouin and Druze, whose religion stems from an early offshoot of Shiite Islam, have lived together in southern Syria, at times sharing each other's traditions. They fought together against French colonialist rule in the 1920s. But the two communities have also clashed over land rights and other disputes. The current upheaval began on July 11 when an armed Bedouin gang kidnapped a Druze vegetable merchant, stealing his wares, car and roughly $700 in local currency. The man was beaten as his captors yelled religious insults. The merchant's relatives then kidnapped Bedouin tribal members in Sweida, leading Bedouin tribesmen to kidnap more than a dozen Druze. The tit-for-tat attacks escalated and by the time the merchant was released and tribal mediations began two days later, the violence had spread across Sweida province and attracted fighters from across the country. Hundreds of armed Arab Bedouin tribesmen descended on Sweida on July 13. They had to pass through dozens of government checkpoints, mostly run by Sunni Muslim forces, from as far away as Hama, Homs in the north, and on the other side of the country to the east near the Iraqi border in Deir Ezzour. There, dozens of young men were filmed entering a white trailer truck guarded by armed fighters. 'These are the people of Deir Ezzour," one man with a regional accent said in the video, according to footage verified by Storyful, which is owned by News Corp, the parent company of The Wall Street Journal. 'We are coming for you Druze." Syrian government forces moved into Sweida to restore order but many Druze, who say the government collaborates with the Bedouins, saw their arrival as an invasion. Druze say they distrust Syria interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and his forces—who are former al Qaeda-linked jihadists who toppled Assad—and describe their feelings of exclusion from the Sunni Muslim-dominated government. A spokesman for Sharaa's office didn't respond to a request for comment. In a July 19 televised address, Sharaa described the Bedouin tribes as "a symbol of noble values and principles," and praised their nationwide mobilization to defend their community. In the same speech, he referred to Druze militias as 'outlaws." Israel, which has a large Druze population, said the Syrian government's intervention was an attempt to harm Druze communities. Cultivating ties with Syria's Druze is an essential part of Israel's strategy to create a demilitarized buffer zone populated by Israel-friendly Druze along its border with southern Syria to prevent cross border attacks on Israeli citizens. The community, however, is divided over Israel's entry into Syria and the Sharaa government. Some fear being viewed as collaborators if they support Israel, while others say Israel's involvement keeps Syria weak. Some Druze say they want to give Syria's new leaders a chance to unify the nation. When Syrian government troops reached Sweida on July 14, their tanks came under attack from Israeli warplanes. Meanwhile, Druze militias battled both government forces and Bedouin fighters. Syria's Defense Ministry announced the death of at least six of its soldiers after an ambush by 'unlawful groups," a term they use to refer to Druze militias. On July 15, the next day, a government-announced cease-fire fell apart after influential Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri—who has strong ties to the Druze in Israel—refused to give it his backing, accusing government forces of continued attacks against Druze civilians. 'We are being subjected to a campaign of complete extermination," he told his followers in a video. 'We must resist this barbaric assault with every means available." The surge of sectarian bloodletting intensified, as artillery and rockets pounded Sweida, with hundreds of Druze and Bedouin civilians killed, according to the United Nations. Thousands of Druze residents of Sweida fled toward the Jordanian border, while others escaped to the countryside. At Radwan's residence where he and his family hid, his 20-year-old daughter made a plea. ''Dad, for God's sake, if they get in and want to kill us, kill me yourself,'" Radwan recalls her saying. ''Strangle us, hit us on the head. Just don't let them be the ones to kill us.'" When the gunmen arrived at their compound, they fired and shouted 'Allahu akbar," meaning God is great, Radwan recalls. 'All of us were frozen," he says. 'We couldn't cry or make a sound. God protected us. They shut the gate and walked away." After gunfire next door, one of his wounded family members sent a voice message to the family WhatsApp group. 'Only a few are still breathing," the family member said in the message heard by the Journal. The men killed at least 13 members of Radwan's family that day. On Friday, Volker Türk, U.N. High Commissioner for human rights, said that his office had documented the attack. 'Armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities deliberately opened fire at a family gathering," he wrote. A spokesperson for Sharaa's office didn't respond to a request for comment. By the end of July 15, bodies were piling up outside the main hospital in Sweida, according to video footage verified by Storyful. The hospital itself was attacked by armed groups, killing and wounding medical staff, according to the U.N. The next day, Israel turned up the pressure, using its warplanes to strike the military headquarters in Damascus and areas near the presidential palace, taking the spiraling violence to a new phase. Syria's leadership and some of Sweida's top Druze leaders later reached a more comprehensive cease-fire deal calling for Sweida province to be integrated into the Syrian state and for Druze factions and religious leaders to maintain security. Hijri again rejected the offer. The violence raged on. The government later agreed to pull its forces from Sweida, following mediation with Israel conducted by the U.S., Turkey and Syria's Arab neighbors. 'After government forces withdrew, we began recovering the bodies," said Wajiha Hajjar, a prominent Druze lawyer in Sweida who returned to the province on Friday after having fled to the Jordanian border. 'There were summary executions where people were dragged from their homes and shot in the streets." she said. 'Villages in the western countryside were gone. Homes were burned down." Other residents described similar scenes. Once government forces pulled back, some Druze militias renewed attacks on Bedouin neighborhoods, including targeting children, according to Bedouin community leaders and residents. 'The Druze, the Hijri, have displaced us from our homes and burned down mosques," said Nahi Sweiti, 27 years old, a Bedouin farmer and sheep herder, using a term to describe Hijri's followers. 'After the defense forces pulled out from Sweida, the armed gangs of Hijri started killing and executing people from the tribes, regardless of whether it was men, women, or children." More Bedouin fighters left Deir Ezzour for Sweida. Some said they were coming for Hijri. Sharaa said that Syrian troops had withdrawn from Sweida to de-escalate tensions but that the 'horrifying campaign of violence" that had followed 'constituted a clear violation of those understandings." He promised to 'hold accountable all those who committed crimes and violated the law—regardless of their affiliation." A top Hijri militia leader denied the accusations. 'There were reactions, but to kill and slaughter this did not happen," said Firoz Naeem in an interview. The government, he said, is colluding with the Bedouin to target Hijri to divide the Druze. 'We are open to dialogue with all communities, but someone who calls you a disbeliever, an infidel, how are we going to feel safe?" Naeem added. 'We have a legitimate right to defend ourselves." Over the weekend, after another cease-fire mediated by the U.S., Syrian forces returned to Sweida to try to restore order. Israel stopped its air campaign on the condition that the Druze would be protected. The truce remains fragile amid an emerging humanitarian crisis, including nearly 100,000 people displaced, says the U.N. Sectarian hate speech targeting both Druze and Bedouin remains rampant online. Syria's Interior Ministry this week said the government had begun evacuating hundreds of Bedouin families from Sweida in buses toward Daraa, a province where Sunni Muslims dominate. Write to Sudarsan Raghavan at
Time of India
42 minutes ago
- Time of India
Coup In Iran After Israel's War? Netanyahu Drops Bombshell On Khamenei, Calls Nuke Program ‘Cancer'
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a regime change in Iran days after fighting a war with the arch-rival Shiite nation. In an interview with the Full Send Podcast, Netanyahu said Iran's clerical leadership will fall from within, not through any foreign military intervention. He also described Iran's nuclear and missile programs as a 'cancer.' Watch this video to know more. Read More
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
What part did Druze leader al-Hijri play in Syria violence?
What part did Druze leader al-Hijri play in Syria violence? Over the last ten days or so, as deadly violence broke out in the southern Syrian province of Sweida, there was one name that kept coming up: Hikmat al-Hijri. The 60-year-old spiritual leader of Syria's Druze community played a major role in events that saw over 500 people killed and threatened to overturn Syria's fragile transition, after decades ruled by a dictatorship. Al-Hijri's critics have blamed his belligerent attitude towards the new Syrian government for what happened as violence escalated. They describe him as an "unhinged warlord," a power-hungry traitor to his country and a drug smuggler with ties to remnants of the ousted Syrian dictatorship's military. But his fans say the Druze spiritual leader is a "symbol of dignity and nobility," who was right to defend his community against the overbearing new Syrian government and their potentially dangerous followers. Inherited power The position of Druze spiritual leader is inherited and after his older brother, Ahmad, died in an unexplained car accident in 2012 — the Assad regime was suspected — the younger al-Hijri, born June 1965 in Venezuela, was given the post. He is one of the three main religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria. The others are Yousef Jarbou and Hammoud al-Hanawi. The spiritual leaders are seen as a reference point on social, moral and religious matters and for any major decisions, there is supposed to be consensus between all three. While the Assad regime was in power, and during the Syrian civil war, which started 2011 and ended 2024, al-Hijri's position might best be described as one of politically expediency. At times he openly supported the Assad regime, urging young Druze to fight for Syrian dictator Bashar Assad. But by 2023, he was speaking for Druze protestors and against the regime. He was not alone in this though. The other two Druze spiritual leaders also supported the Assad regime at times. There has also been squabbling among the three over who is the primary leader of the Druze community in Syria and who speaks for it. Reports suggest that Jarbou and al-Hanawi split from al-Hijri because of this. Villain or hero? Since the ouster of the Assad regime and the formation of a new, interim government, headed by Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of an Islamist rebel group that headed the December offensive against Assad, al-Hijri has become even more controversial. The Druze mainly live in the southern Syrian province of Sweida and just like Syria's Kurds, the community has been negotiating its involvement in the new Syria. Syria is a Sunni-majority country — Sunni Muslims make up about 70% of the country's population — and the various Syrian religious and ethnic minorities have been concerned about their future in it. Some, like the Kurds, have suggested they be allowed to run their own areas, which has sparked fears the country could be split into different zones. There have also been ongoing talks on how to integrate armed militias around the country into a central military and whether the state should have a monopoly over arms. These are the kinds of negotiations that al-Hijri has been involved in. He is considered the most belligerent when it comes to cooperating with the country's new leaders, with an absolutist attitude that differs to that of Jarbou and al-Hanawi, who have generally been more conciliatory and advocated finding ways to come to terms with al-Sharaa's government. For example, in March a handwritten memorandum of understanding between the government and Druze authorities was circulated, saying the Druze and the central government had come to an agreement about their mutual future. Al-Hijri was at the meeting where it was drafted but didn't sign it and then later said he disagreed with it. The interim government doesn't have total control of national security and recent outbreaks of violence (in which some government soldiers may well have been involved) haven't done much to assure minority communities they'll be safe. This is why some believe that al-Hijri's attitude is the correct one. What did al-Hijri do during recent violence? Since July 13, after tit-for-tat kidnapping between the Druze and Bedouin communities blew up into major fighting, several ceasefires were negotiated and even agreed to, including by other Druze leaders. However, after first agreeing, al-Hijri rejected them. Some observers say he was right to do so. British-Iraqi researcher and analyst Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi says he spoke to leaders of Druze fighters in Sweida, who had previously disagreed with al-Hijri's anti-government stance. But they told him, "at the same time, discussions were taking place on initiatives such as forming joint patrols between local [Sweida] factions and the internal [Syrian government] security forces, violations were being committed by the government forces," al-Tamimi wrote on his Substack page this week. During this month's violence, every side has been accused of atrocities — the Druze fighters, the Sunni fighters and the government forces. Online disinformation has been rampant and until the violence has been investigated, it will be difficult to know exactly who was responsible for what. Al-Hijri's views on the new government are allegedly supported by a body called the Sweida Military Council, which was created shortly after the Assad regime fell. Critics accuse the council of protecting military remnants of the Assad regime and say it may be involved in drug smuggling and other crimes. Traitor to Syria? Syrian Sunni fighters elsewhere in the country responded to the violence, saying they would travel to fight the Druze in Sweida. Al-Hijri called on the international community, including the US and Israel, to protect the Druze. Later that same day, July 16, Israel bombed central Damascus. This is what led to al-Hijri being called a traitor to his country. That anger about Israel — the two countries are still considered to be at war — was also mistakenly extended to the Druze community in general, with other Syrians saying they must all be traitors. Fast-moving events, entrenched attitudes and long-simmering prejudices make it almost impossible to tell who are the villains or heroes of recent events. Possibly what al-Hijri currently represents most of all is the lack of consensus in the Druze community. There's no doubt that recent events, in which al-Hijri's attitude and opinions likely escalated violence, have deepened sectarian tensions in a Syria scarred by communal insecurity. A ceasefire seems to be holding but after the violence of the past week, one thing is becoming clearer: Even as other Druze leaders in Lebanon continue to urge diplomacy, the Syrian Druze community's feelings towards their new central government appear to be hardening.
