Latest news with #DruzeMinority
LBCI
3 days ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Bloodshed in Syria's Sweida left at least 321 people dead: Human rights group
Bloodshed in Sweida left at least 321 people dead, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said on Friday, in a new toll. A Syrian minister said that the government has recovered 87 bodies, but he did not indicate if it was the entire toll from recent violence between Bedouin tribes and the Druze minority in and around the city in the south of the country.
Irish Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
Syria's president accuses Israel of seeking ‘endless chaos' as his forces pull back
Syrian government forces began withdrawing from a restive southern province as president Ahmed al-Sharaa sought to restore calm after days of deadly sectarian clashes and Israeli strikes against the Arab state. In a hardening of his rhetoric against Syria's southern neighbour, Mr Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to foment 'endless chaos'. He said Syria faced a choice between 'open war with the Israeli entity' or handing security in the Sweida province over to factions from the country's Druze minority . 'We are not those who fear war . . . However, we prioritised the interests of Syrians over chaos and destruction,' he said during an address aired on state television on Thursday. [ Who are the Druze - and why does Israel say it is striking Syria for their benefit Opens in new window ] 'The optimal choice at this stage was to make a careful decision to protect the unity of our homeland and the safety of its people, based on the supreme national interest.' READ MORE Sweida residents and people familiar with Mr Sharaa's decisions said government forces had begun withdrawing overnight. A wounded man receives treatment at a hospital in Syria's southern city of Sweida on Friday. Photograph: Shadi Al-Dubaisi/AFP Mr Sharaa announced the moves hours after Israel escalated its campaign of air strikes on Syria, bombing the defence ministry in the heart of Damascus and carrying out another strike near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital. The strikes on Damascus killed at least three people, according to Syrian officials. Syria's state news agency, Sana, said Israel carried out another air strike near Sweida city at around 10.45pm on Thursday. The US, which has in recent weeks recognised Mr Sharaa's government and lifted Assad-era sanctions on Syria, has sought to broker an end to this week's conflict. US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Thursday said the US 'did not support recent Israeli strikes' and 'unequivocally condemns this violence'. 'All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire,' she said, adding: 'We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states.' Bedouin fighters gather in front a burning shop. Photograph: Ghaith Alsayed/AP Israel began launching air strikes against Syrian security forces in Sweida on Monday after an eruption of fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes that escalated after Syrian government forces deployed to the southern province and were drawn into the conflict. Israel said it had intervened to protect the Druze community, which it has actively sought to court, and to ensure southern Syria areas bordering the Jewish state are demilitarised. Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday said: 'That will also be our policy going forward – we will not allow Syrian army forces to enter the region south of Damascus, and will not allow any harm to the Druze.' Syria's government announced a renewed ceasefire in Sweida on Wednesday, as a previous one declared a day earlier collapsed. The latest ceasefire appeared to be holding as of Thursday morning. The fighting and Israel's strikes underscored Sharaa's struggle to stabilise and unify the fragile state eight months after he led a rebel offensive that toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. A damaged car and house in the Sweida countryside, southern Syria, where fighters from Bedouin tribes continued to roam on Friday. Photograph: EPA Druze militias, which have been the dominant forces in Sweida, have refused to be integrated into the nascent government's new national security forces. Israel has also used the security vacuum to seize a swath of territory in southern Syria and launch repeated strikes against military infrastructure in the Arab state. Activists described scenes of carnage in Sweida city, with government forces and Druze militias accused of killings and rights violations. In an effort to ease the spiralling crisis, Mr Sharaa stressed in his address that the Druze were integral to the Syrian state, and 'protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities'. He added the government had 'decided to assign some local factions and religious sheikhs the responsibility of maintaining security in Sweida'. Mr Sharaa's government has said it does not want conflict with its neighbours and had been holding talks with Israel to ease tensions before the latest outbreak of violence. Arab and Turkish officials have repeatedly criticised Israel's attacks in Syria, saying they undermine efforts to stabilise the country after the 14-year civil war. Late on Thursday evening, the foreign ministers of the Gulf states Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq issued a joint statement condemning the 'repeated' Israeli attacks and saying they 'support Syria's security, unity, stability and sovereignty, and reject all outside interferences in its affairs'. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
U.S. does not support Israel's Syria strikes as Sharaa vows to protect Druze
The United States said on Thursday it did not support recent Israeli strikes on Syria and had made clear its displeasure, while Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture his country and promised to protect its Druze minority. On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus, while also hitting government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying that Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze — part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel. The airstrikes blew up part of Syria's defense ministry and hit near the presidential palace. On Thursday, the Syrian state news agency said Israel carried out an airstrike on the vicinity of Syria's Sweida, where scores of people have been killed in days of conflict pitting Druze fighters against government troops and Bedouin tribes. U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the United States condemned violence in Syria and was actively engaging all constituencies there and called on the Syrian government to lead the path forward. "Regarding Israel's intervention and activity is the United States did not support recent Israeli strikes," she said. "We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states." Bruce declined to say whether Washington supports Israel carrying out such military operations when it deems necessary. 'We've been very clear about our displeasure' "I won't speak to future conversations or past ones. What we're dealing with now is this particular episode, what was required, and I think we've been very clear about our displeasure, certainly that the President has, and we've worked very quickly to have it stopped," Bruce said. The violence has underlined the challenges interim President Sharaa faces in stabilizing Syria and exerting centralized rule, despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration's evolving security contacts with Israel. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said there had been an attempt to "sabotage the ceasefire that was achieved yesterday with the contributions of our country," and that Israel had shown once again that it did not want peace or stability in either the Gaza Strip or Syria. "Israel, using the Druze as an excuse, has expanded its banditry to Syria," he told reporters. The heavily damaged Syrian army and defense ministry headquarters in Damascus, following Israeli strikes on Wednesday. | AFP-Jiji Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Turkey, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Egypt issued a joint statement reaffirming support for Syria's "security, unity, stability, and sovereignty," and rejecting all foreign interference in its affairs. They also welcomed the agreement reached to end the crisis in Sweida and emphasized the necessity of its implementation to protect Syria and its unity. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late on Wednesday the United States had engaged all parties and steps had been agreed to end a "troubling and horrifying situation." Overnight, government troops withdrew from Sweida. The government sent troops earlier this week to the predominantly Druze city to quell a round of fighting between the Bedouins and Druze but the violence then grew until a ceasefire was declared. White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the de-escalation of the conflict in Syria seemed to be continuing. "Syria agreed to draw back their troops that were in the area where that clash was ongoing and we continue to be very actively monitoring the situation," she said. Sharaa praises U.S. mediation Addressing Syrians on Thursday, Sharaa credited U.S., Arab and Turkish mediation for saving "the region from an uncertain fate," but accused Israel of seeking to "dismantle the unity of our people." He said Israel had "consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime." The United Nations Security Council met on Thursday to discuss the Israeli strikes and Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said "external or internal players" could not be allowed to exploit a fragile situation in Syria by "fermenting ethnic and religious tension." Israel bombed Syria frequently under the rule of the ousted former president, Bashar Assad, and has struck the country repeatedly this year, describing its new leaders as barely disguised jihadists and saying it will not allow them to deploy forces in areas of southern Syria near its border. Sharaa, commander of an al-Qaida faction before cutting ties with the group in 2016, said protecting Druze citizens and their rights was "our priority" and rejected any attempt to drag them into the hands of an "external party." He also vowed to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people." The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented 254 dead in four days of fighting, among them medical personnel, women and children. The network's head Fadel Abdulghany told Reuters the figure included cases of field executions by both sides, Syrians killed by Israeli strikes and others killed in clashes but that it would take time to break down the figures for each category. One local journalist said he had counted more than 60 bodies in Sweida in south Syria on Thursday morning. Ryan Marouf of Suwayda24 said he had found a family of 12 people killed in one house, including women and an elderly man. A Sweida resident, who asked to be identified only by his first name Amer for fear of reprisals, shared a video, which Reuters was not able to independently verify, of his neighbors slain in their home. It showed a lifeless man in a chair, an elderly man with a gunshot wound to his right temple on the floor and a younger man, face down in a pool of blood. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of a swathe of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida. He reiterated Israel's policy to protect the Druze. Syria had sent "its army south of Damascus into an area that was supposed to remain demilitarized, and it began massacring Druze. This was something we could not accept in any way," he said, adding: "It is a ceasefire achieved through strength." In a worrying development, a military commander for the Bedouin said their fighters had launched a new offensive in Sweida province against Druze fighters and that the truce only there applied to government forces. The Bedouins, Sunni Muslim farmers who have long-standing frictions with the Druze, were seeking to free detained colleagues, he said. Amid reports of revenge attacks on Bedouin on Thursday, leading Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari called for peaceful Bedouin tribes to be respected and not harmed.
Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Why is Israel escalating its strikes against Syria?
Israel has attacked Syrian government forces in a wave of deadly air strikes, at the same time as violence has gripped the southern province of Suwayda. In the spotlight is Syria's Druze minority, also present in Israel. What does the fighting spell for Syria's future?
Reuters
4 days ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Syria's Sharaa vows to protect Druze rights as ceasefire holds
DAMASCUS, July 17 (Reuters) - Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority on Thursday, after U.S. intervention helped end deadly fighting between government forces and Druze fighters in the south. Overnight, the Islamist-led government's troops withdrew from the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, where scores of people have been killed in days of conflict pitting Druze fighters against government troops and Bedouin tribes. One local journalist said he'd counted more than 60 bodies in the streets of Sweida on Thursday morning. Ryan Marouf of Suwayda24 told Reuters he had found a family of 12 people killed in one house, including women and an elderly man. Violence in Syria escalated sharply on Wednesday as Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus, while also hitting government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze - part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel. Israel, which bombed Syria frequently under the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, has struck the country repeatedly this year, describing its new leaders as barely disguised jihadists and saying it will not allow them to deploy forces in areas of southern Syria near its border. Addressing Syrians on Thursday, interim President Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to "dismantle the unity of our people", saying it had "consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime". Sharaa, who was commander of an al Qaeda faction before cutting ties with the group in 2016, said protecting Druze citizens and their rights was "our priority" and rejected any attempt to drag them into the hands of an "external party". He also vowed to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarisation of a swathe of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida. He reiterated Israel's policy to protect the Druze. Syria had sent "its army south of Damascus into an area that was supposed to remain demilitarized, and it began massacring Druze. This was something we could not accept in any way," he said, adding: "It is a ceasefire achieved through strength". The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented 193 dead in four days of fighting, among them medical personnel, women and children. The Network's head Fadel Abdulghany told Reuters the figure included cases of field executions by both sides, Syrians killed by Israeli strikes and others killed in clashes but that it would take time to break down the figures for each category. A Sweida resident, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Amer, out of fear of reprisals, shared a video of his neighbours slain in their home. It showed a lifeless man in a chair, an elderly man with a gunshot wound to his right temple on the floor and a younger man, face down in a pool of blood. Amid reports of revenge attacks on Bedouin on Thursday, leading Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari called for peaceful Bedouin tribes to be respected and not harmed. One reporter in Sweida this week saw government fighters loot and burn homes, including just before they departed Sweida overnight. Fighters also shaved off the moustaches of Druze men. Moustaches are worn by Druze sheikhs and many other Druze men as a symbol of religious and cultural identity with spiritual significance. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late on Wednesday the United States had engaged all the parties involved and that steps had been agreed that would end "this troubling and horrifying situation". Sharaa credited U.S. Arab and Turkish mediation for saving "the region from an uncertain fate". The violence has underlined the challenges that Sharaa faces in stabilizing Syria and exerting centralised rule over the country, despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration's evolving security contacts with Israel. Sharaa faces challenges to stitch Syria back together in the face of deep misgivings from groups that fear Islamist rule. In March, mass killings of members of the Alawite minority exacerbated the mistrust. Israel's airstrikes on Wednesday blew up part of Syria's defence ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria. The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to address the conflict, diplomats said.
