Latest news with #Druze minority
The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Syrian presidency urges all parties to respect ceasefire following deadly conflict
Syria 's Islamist-led government has begun deploying internal security forces in Sweida, a predominantly Druze area, following intense bloodshed that has claimed hundreds of lives. The deployment, confirmed by the interior ministry spokesperson on Saturday, coincides with an urgent call from the Syrian presidency for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire, urging all parties to commit to ending hostilities across all areas. Israel had intervened in the conflict earlier this week, hitting government forces and the defence ministry building in Damascus, while declaring support for the Druze minority. Barrack, who serves as both Washington 's Syria envoy and ambassador to Turkey, stated the ceasefire is supported by Turkey, Jordan, and other neighbouring countries. Syria's Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence which began with clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions, before drawing in government security forces that were sent to the area by Damascus. Barrack said Israel and Syria had agreed to a ceasefire and called on Druze, Bedouins and Sunnis to put down their weapons "and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity". Israel has said it aims to protect Syria's Druze minority while also saying it wants areas of south Syria near its border to remain demilitarised. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has accused Israel of seeking to sow division among Syrians. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for the next two days. The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
LBCI
3 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel says sending humanitarian aid to Druze in Syria
Israel announced on Friday that it is sending humanitarian aid to Sweida following days of deadly sectarian clashes in the Syrian province, heartland of the Druze minority. "Against the backdrop of recent attacks targeting the Druze community in Sweida and the severe humanitarian situation in the area, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has ordered the urgent transfer of humanitarian aid to the Druze population in the region," the foreign ministry said in a statement. The aid package will amount to 2 million shekels (nearly $600,000) and will include food parcels and medical supplies, the ministry added. AFP
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel bombards Syria's Damascus as US says steps agreed to end violence
Israel has carried out powerful air strikes near Syria's presidential palace and on the military headquarters in the heart of Damascus, a major escalation in its bombardment of the neighbouring country. At least three people were killed and 34 others were wounded in the attacks on Damascus on Wednesday, Syrian state media reported, citing the Ministry of Health. While targeting Damascus, the Israeli military continued to pound areas in southern Syria, including Suwayda, where a new ceasefire deal has been struck after four days of clashes between Druze armed groups, Bedouin tribes and government forces, which left hundreds dead. Syria's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Israeli attacks on Damascus and Suwayda were 'part of a systematic Israeli policy to ignite tension and chaos and undermine security in Syria', calling on the international community to take 'urgent action' against Israeli aggression. Israel said its bombing campaign is aimed at protecting the Druze minority, and it has called on the Syrian government to withdraw its troops from the city of Suwayda, where much of the violence has taken place. Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X that the Israeli military would 'continue to operate vigorously in Suwayda to destroy the forces that attacked the Druze until they withdraw completely'. Later on Wednesday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the parties to the fighting in southern Syria had agreed on 'specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight'. 'This will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do,' Rubio said on X of the ceasefire deal, reached one day after an earlier iteration had collapsed. More than 300 people had been killed in fighting as of Wednesday morning, including four children, eight women and 165 soldiers and security forces, according to the UK-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Army withdrawal from Suwayda The Syrian Ministry of Interior and Druze leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou confirmed on Wednesday that they had reached a ceasefire. But the new deal was rejected by Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, another Druze leader, who promised to continue fighting until Suwayda was 'entirely liberated'. According to the ministry, the deal declares a 'total and immediate halt to all military operations', as well as the formation of a committee comprising government officials and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation. That evening, the Syrian Ministry of Defence said it had begun withdrawing the army from Suwayda 'in implementation of the terms of the adopted agreement after the end of the sweep of the city for outlaw groups'. Speaking shortly before Rubio's announcement of a deal, State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce had said that the US wanted Syrian government forces to 'withdraw their military in order to enable all sides to de-escalate and find a path forward'. But while Syrian troops are withdrawing, the government will be maintaining a presence in the city, Reporting from Syria's capital Damascus, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr said the deal included the 'deployment of government forces'. 'They will set up checkpoints, and this area will be fully integrated into the Syrian state,' she said. A complete withdrawal by the government would, she said, 'mean a failure in efforts by the new authorities to unite a fractured nation and extend its authority across Syria'. 'But staying could open a much bigger conflict with Israel that has promised more strikes if, in the words of Katz, the message wasn't received.' Pretext to bomb The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between Druze armed factions and local Sunni Bedouin tribes in the southern province of Suwayda. Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze, with reports of the former carrying out human rights abuses, according to local monitors and analysts. The actions committed by members of the security forces – acknowledged as 'unlawful criminal acts' by the Syrian presidency – have given Israel a pretext to bombard Syria as it builds military bases in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria seized by its forces. Haid Haid, consulting fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera that Israel had been clear since the ouster of Bashar al-Assad last year that they did not want Syrian forces 'to be deployed to the deconfliction line in southern Syria'. 'One way Israel is trying to advance that plan is to present itself as the 'protectors' of the Druze community,' Haid said. Ammar Kahf, the Damascus-based executive director of the Omran Center for Strategic Studies, said: 'It's a clear message to the Syrian government that the Israelis are not going to be silent. 'The Israelis are not going to allow the Syrian government to spread its authority all over the territory.'
Arab News
6 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Syria announces ceasefire after sectarian clashes, but more fighting and abuse alleged
BUSRA AL-HARIR: Syria 's defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, saying it was protecting the Druze minority. The latest escalation under Syria's new leaders began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a center of the Druze community. Syrian government forces, sent to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups. A ceasefire announcement On Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said an agreement was struck with the city's 'notables and dignitaries' and that government forces would 'respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups.' However, scattered clashes continued after his announcement — as did allegations that security forces had committed violations against civilians. Syria's Interior Ministry said Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said Tuesday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children. Among them were 21 people killed in 'field executions' by government forces, including 12 men in a rest house in the city of Sweida, it said. It did not say how many of the dead were civilians and also cited reports of members of the security forces looting and setting homes on fire. Syrian interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said in a statement that he had tasked authorities with 'taking immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed a transgression or abuse, regardless of their rank or position.' Associated Press journalists in Sweida province saw forces at a government checkpoint searching cars and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers. Israel's involvement draws pushback Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces' convoys heading into the provincial capital of Sweida and in other areas of southern Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sought to 'prevent the Syrian regime from harming' the Druze religious minority 'and to ensure disarmament in the area adjacent to our borders with Syria.' In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces. Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called on X for Al-Sharaa to be 'eliminated without delay.' A soldier's story Manhal Yasser Al-Gor, of the Interior Ministry forces, was being treated for shrapnel wounds at a local hospital after an Israeli strike hit his convoy. 'We were entering Sweida to secure the civilians and prevent looting. I was on an armored personnel carrier when the Israeli drone hit us,' he said, adding that there were 'many casualties.' The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Israeli strikes had killed 'several innocent civilians' as well as soldiers, and called them 'a reprehensible example of ongoing aggression and external interference' in Syria's internal matters. It said the Syrian state is committed to protecting the Druze, 'who form an integral part of the national identity and united Syrian social fabric.' Suspicion over Syria's new government Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria's new leaders since Al-Sharaa's Sunni Islamist insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, saying it doesn't want militants near its borders. Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria. Earlier Tuesday, religious leaders of the Druze community in Syria called for armed factions that have been clashing with government forces to surrender their weapons and cooperate with authorities. One of the main Druze spiritual leaders later released a video statement retracting the call. Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, who has been opposed to the government in Damascus, said in the video that the initial Druze leaders' statement had been issued after an agreement with the authorities in Damascus but that 'they broke the promise and continued the indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians.' 'We are being subjected to a total war of annihilation,' he claimed, without offering evidence. Some videos on social media showed armed fighters with Druze captives, beating them and, in some cases, forcibly shaving men's moustaches. Sectarian and revenge attacks The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Since Assad's fall, clashes have broken out several times between forces loyal to the new Syrian government and Druze fighters. The latest fighting has raised fears of more sectarian violence. In March, an ambush on government forces by Assad loyalists in another part of Syria triggered days of sectarian and revenge attacks. Hundreds of civilians were killed, most of them members of Assad's minority Alawite sect. A commission was formed to investigate the attacks but no findings have been made public. The videos and reports of soldiers' violations spurred outrage and protests by Druze communities in neighboring Lebanon, northern Israel and in the Israel-annexed Golan Heights, where the Israeli military said dozens of protesters had crossed the border into Syrian territory. The violence drew international concern. The US envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, called the violence 'worrisome on all sides' in a post on. 'We are attempting to come to a peaceful, inclusive outcome for Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government and Israeli forces,' he said.
