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The Hindu
28 minutes ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Sectarian wounds: on the violence in Syria
Last week's violence in southern Syria, which saw the killing of hundreds from the Druze community, was a grave reminder of the country's deep-rooted sectarian tensions, now ruled by a former Sunni jihadist. When the Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS), formerly an al-Qaeda affiliate, captured power in Syria in November 2024, its leader Ahmed al Sharaa (who until recently was known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani) pledged to protect the rights of all communities. But the realities on the ground tell a different story. Syria is approximately 80% Sunni, with minorities including Alawites, Shias, Christians and Druze making up the rest. The ascent of the HTS triggered widespread anxiety among these groups. These fears were only reinforced when violence erupted against the Alawites, the sect of former President Bashar al-Assad, in March in the western coastal region. Hundreds were killed in days long attacks orchestrated by pro-government militias, most of them jihadists. It took only four months before the next atrocity unfolded — this time in Sweida, a Druze heartland in the south. Clashes initially broke out between Druze and local Bedouin members, which prompted Mr. Sharaa to send in security forces. What followed was a massacre. The sectarian violence escalated into a regional crisis after Israel began bombing Syrian government forces and military infrastructure in Sweida and Damascus. While Israel does have a Druze minority of its own, its claims of humanitarian intervention ring hollow in the context of its ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. Israel has long conducted strikes in Syria — earlier, its targets were Hezbollah and Mr. Assad's troops. Now that the HTS is in power, Tel Aviv does not want a consolidated Syrian military presence near its border. These internal and external pressures have left Mr. Sharaa vulnerable. Syria, which witnessed coups and counter-coups in the 1950s and 1960s, achieved some stability under the secular Baathist rule in the 1970s. When the Baathist regime became a dynastic dictatorship, cracks began to emerge in the political and social consensus that Hafez al-Assad, Bashar's father, had built, to culminate in a devastating civil war. The best chance for Mr. Sharaa to redeem himself and Syria was to rebuild a pluralistic state, with Kurds, Alawites, Christians and Druze enjoying equal rights. Instead, his push to establish a centralised Islamist regime in Damascus has deepened the sectarian wounds. And the HTS's armed jihadists, who go on killing sprees against minority dissenters, are pushing the country towards disintegration. Unless Mr. Sharaa takes urgent steps to rein in his fighters and rebuild a national consensus, Syria risks descending deeper into chaos.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The Druze under attack
While the usual pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched through London on Saturday preaching hatred of Israel, another group was staging a less prominent gathering in the capital. Dozens of Syrians from minority communities took part in a rally calling for action to protect the Druze in their Sweida heartland in the south of the country, where sectarian violence has killed hundreds. Around 80 protesters chanted 'Stop supporting Jolani.' This was a reference to the nom de guerre of the Syrian interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. His Islamist group, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), took over in Damascus late last year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Yet despite pledges to abandon the hard-line fundamentalism previously espoused by Islamic State and other bodies, the new government is showing it is every bit as Druze minority are not the first to be targeted but their experience is especially grim. They fear their small community is being set up for ethnic cleansing and other minorities will suffer the same fate. Israel, which harbours some Druze communities in the Golan, have become involved, bombing Syrian positions while the US fears the violence will wreck its efforts to bring peace to the region. Several attempts to impose a ceasefire have so far failed. Western nations, including the UK, have invested a great deal of political and diplomatic capital in propping up the new regime in Damascus and will be reluctant to admit this might be a mistake. HTS was founded as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and continues to espouse its Salafi-jihadist ideology. Their efforts to present a secular, non-threatening front to the rest of the world is in danger of falling apart amid the bloodshed of Sweida.
CNA
6 days ago
- Politics
- CNA
Key players in Syria's latest violence, from the Druze and Bedouin to government forces
Clashes that shook southern Syria this week killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drew in an array of local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's years-long civil war. The violence underscored the difficulties facing the Syrian new government struggling to consolidate control over the country, months after insurgents ousted longtime autocrat Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive last December. Some key players and alliances in Syria are different now than during the civil war, but the landscape remains complex. Here's a look at the main parties in the four days of violence in Sweida province before a ceasefire mediated by the US, Turkey and Arab countries took effect. The truce mostly held on Thursday (Jul 17), although scattered violence was reported. THE GOVERNMENT Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa leads the new government and is Syria's international face. His Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, once an Al-Qaeda affiliate that later split from it, spearheaded the anti-Assad charge. Since taking power, al-Sharaa has taken a more moderate tone, preached coexistence and formed diplomatic ties with Western countries, including the US. His government has faced suspicion from minority communities, including Assad's Alawite sect, Christians, Syrian Kurds and the Druze, and there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence. Damascus also struggles to turn a patchwork of former rebel groups - including some extremists - into a professional army. In Sweida, al-Sharaa's government forces intervened in clashes that started between local Bedouin tribes and Druze militias, but ended up themselves clashing with the Druze, drawing Israeli airstrikes, purportedly in defence of the Druze. Some government fighters allegedly killed Druze civilians, looted and burnt houses. THE DRUZE The Druze are Arabs who follow a religion derived from a branch of Islam. They maintain a degree of secrecy about the practice of their faith that emerged in the 11th century and incorporates elements from Islam and other philosophies, emphasising monotheism, reincarnation and the pursuit of truth. Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa called them part of the Syrian fabric and vowed to protect their rights in a speech on Thursday. Syria's Druze are concentrated in the southwest in the Sweida region bordering Jordan and in areas of Quneitra province, near the occupied Golan. They also reside in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. In Israel, about 150,000 Druze reside primarily in the north and the occupied Golan. During Syria's civil war, the Druze were split between supporting Assad, who offered them a degree of autonomy and exemption from army conscription, and his opposition. They established their own militias, partly to defend against militants who consider them heretics. Until this week's clashes, the Druze were split between those who wanted to integrate with the new government and those seeking to maintain autonomy. THE BEDOUINS While predominantly Druze, Sweida is also home to Bedouin tribes who are Sunni Muslim and who have on occasion clashed with the Druze. In 2000, unrest broke out after a Bedouin killed a Druze man in a land dispute. Assad's forces intervened, shooting Druze protesters. After a 2018 Islamic State group attack on the Druze in Sweida that killed more than 200 people, the Druze accused the Bedouins of helping the militants. The latest escalation began with a Bedouin tribe in Sweida setting up a checkpoint and attacking and robbing a Druze man, which triggered tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. Al-Sharaa's forces then intervened, ostensibly to restore calm, but sided with the Bedouins. Some Druze groups allegedly carried out revenge attacks against Bedouins after a ceasefire was reached. ISRAEL Israel bombed Syria frequently when Assad was in power, seeking to roll back the influence established by Iran and Iran-backed groups that deployed there to help him fight rebels. Israel has painted the new Syrian government as a jihadist threat, saying it would not allow it to deploy forces into southern Syria. Israel has said it wants to avoid any hostile build-up at its border, while also vowing to protect the Druze minority. Sharaa on Thursday said Israel was promoting division among Syrians, accusing it 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". Washington has been pushing for Syria and Israel to move toward normalising relations. Syrian officials have acknowledged holding indirect talks with Israel to defuse tensions. UNITED STATES In a watershed moment, President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, a major boost from Washington as the new Damascus authorities try to consolidate control. Amid the Sweida violence, the US, which has been pushing to broker ties between Syria and Israel, launched a flurry of diplomacy to push for a ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was "very worried" about the violence, describing it as a "direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria", and added that Washington was in "repeated and constant talks with the governments of Syria and Israel" to de-escalate. The US on Thursday said that it did not support Israel's recent strikes. Rubio said the US had engaged all parties and that steps had been agreed to end a "troubling and horrifying situation". CHINA In a Chinese foreign ministry press conference on Thursday, spokesperson Lin Jian said: "Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected. "In particular, given the continuous ongoing turbulence in the Middle East, there shouldn't be any action that may lead to escalation." China was a backer of the Assad government during the civil war. In January, al-Sharaa met China's ambassador to Damascus - the first public engagement between the two countries since Assad was overthrown. Earlier this year, Syria's foreign minister said the new government seeks to strengthen relations with China and to build a "long-term strategic partnership". TURKEY Turkey, an ally of both the US and al-Sharaa's government, was also part of the mediation efforts over Sweida. Ankara wants a strong state in Damascus and is primarily concerned with curtailing the influence of Kurdish groups in Syria along the border with Turkey - specifically, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. While the Kurdish SDF fighters are allied with the US and were key in defeating the Islamic State militants, Ankara considers them terrorists because of their association with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. THE KURDISH-LED FORCES The Kurdish-led SDF controls much of northeast Syria and was not part of the Sweida violence. But its fighters have in the past clashed with Turkish-backed groups that are now part of the new Syrian government forces. In March, the SDF and Damascus signed a landmark deal - backed by Washington - under which the Kurdish-led forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The deal also said Syria's border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast that are now under the SDF control, would be turned over to the central government.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Key players in Syria's latest eruption of violence, from the Druze and Bedouin to government forces
Clashes that shook southern Syria this week killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drew in an array of local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's yearslong civil war. The violence underscored the difficulties facing the Syrian new government struggling to consolidate control over the country, months after Islamist-led insurgents ousted longtime autocrat Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive last December. Some key players and alliances in Syria are different now than during the civil war, but the landscape remains complex. Here's a look at the main parties in the four days of violence in Sweida province before a ceasefire mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries took effect. The truce mostly held on Thursday, though scattered violence was reported. The government Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa leads the new government and is Syria's international face. His Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, once an al-Qaida affiliate that later split from it, spearheaded the anti-Assad charge. Since taking power, al-Sharaa has taken a more moderate tone, preached coexistence and formed diplomatic ties with Western countries, including the U.S. His government has faced suspicion from minority communities — including Assad's Alawite sect, Christians, Syrian Kurds and the Druze — and there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence. Damascus also struggles to turn a patchwork of former rebel groups — including some extremists — into a professional army. In Sweida, al-Sharaa's government forces intervened in clashes that started between local Bedouin tribes and Druze militias, but ended up themselves clashing with the Druze, drawing Israeli airstrikes, purportedly in defense of the Druze. Some government fighters allegedly killed Druze civilians, and looted and burned houses. The Druze The Druze 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. Others mostly live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. During Syria's civil war, the Druze were split between supporting Assad, who offered them a degree of autonomy and exemption from army conscription, and his opposition. They established their own militias, partly to defend against Islamic militants who consider them heretics. Until this week's clashes, the Druze were split between those who wanted to integrate with the new government and those seeking to maintain autonomy. The Bedouins While predominantly Druze, Sweida is also home to Bedouin tribes who are Sunni Muslim and who have on occasion clashed with the Druze. In 2000, unrest broke out after a Bedouin killed a Druze man in a land dispute. Assad's forces intervened, shooting Druze protesters. After a 2018 Islamic State group attack on the Druze in Sweida that killed more than 200 people, the Druze accused the Bedouins of helping the militants. The latest escalation began with a Bedouin tribe in Sweida setting up a checkpoint and attacking and robbing a Druze man, which triggered tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. Al-Sharaa's forces then intervened, ostensibly to restore calm, but sided with the Bedouins. Some Druze groups allegedly carried out revenge attacks against Bedouins after a ceasefire was reached. Israel Israel frequently launched strikes on Iranian and Iran-backed forces who were Assad's allies during Syria's civil war. Since Assad's fall, Israel has been suspicious of the new Islamist authorities in Damascus. Israeli forces seized have control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria and carried out airstrikes on military sites in what officials they was a move to create a demilitarized zone south of Damascus. Washington has been pushing for Syria and Israel to move toward normalizing relations. Syrian officials have acknowledged holding indirect talks with Israel to defuse tensions. Israel stepped up its intervention during the Sweida escalation this week, saying it was acting to protect the Druze, who are seen as a loyal minority in Israel and often serve in the military. Israel launched dozens of airstrikes on convoys of Syrian forces around Sweida and struck the headquarters of the Syrian Ministry of Defense in the heart of Damascus. The U.S. In a watershed moment, President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, a major boost from Washington as the new Damascus authorities try to consolidate control. Amid the Sweida violence, the U.S., which has been pushing to broker ties between Syria and Israel, launched a flurry of diplomacy to push for a ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was 'very worried' about the violence, describing it as a 'direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria,' and added that Washington was in 'repeated and constant talks with the governments of Syria and Israel' to deescalate. Turkey Turkey, an ally of both the U.S. and al-Sharaa's government, was also part of the mediation efforts over Sweida. Ankara wants a strong state in Damascus and is primarily concerned with curtailing the influence of Kurdish groups in Syria along the border with Turkey — specifically, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. While the Kurdish SDF fighters are allied with the U.S. and were key in defeating the Islamic State militants, Ankara considers them terrorists because of their association with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. The Kurdish-led forces The Kurdish-led SDF controls much of northeast Syria and was not part of the Sweida violence. But its fighters have in the past clashed with Turkish-backed groups that are now part of the new Syrian government forces. In March, the SDF and Damascus signed a landmark deal — backed by Washington — under which the Kurdish-led forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The deal also said Syria's border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast that are now under the SDF control would be turned over to the central government. But the details of the deal were left vague, and the two sides have been at odds over how to implement it. The Sweida escalation could further sideline those discussions.
Associated Press
6 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Key players in Syria's latest eruption of violence, from the Druze and Bedouin to government forces
BEIRUT (AP) — Clashes that shook southern Syria this week killed hundreds of people, including civilians, and drew in an array of local and international players, harking back to the dynamics of the country's yearslong civil war. The violence underscored the difficulties facing the Syrian new government struggling to consolidate control over the country, months after Islamist-led insurgents ousted longtime autocrat Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive last December. Some key players and alliances in Syria are different now than during the civil war, but the landscape remains complex. Here's a look at the main parties in the four days of violence in Sweida province before a ceasefire mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries took effect. The truce mostly held on Thursday, though scattered violence was reported. The government Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa leads the new government and is Syria's international face. His Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, once an al-Qaida affiliate that later split from it, spearheaded the anti-Assad charge. Since taking power, al-Sharaa has taken a more moderate tone, preached coexistence and formed diplomatic ties with Western countries, including the U.S. His government has faced suspicion from minority communities — including Assad's Alawite sect, Christians, Syrian Kurds and the Druze — and there have been outbreaks of sectarian violence. Damascus also struggles to turn a patchwork of former rebel groups — including some extremists — into a professional army. In Sweida, al-Sharaa's government forces intervened in clashes that started between local Bedouin tribes and Druze militias, but ended up themselves clashing with the Druze, drawing Israeli airstrikes, purportedly in defense of the Druze. Some government fighters allegedly killed Druze civilians, and looted and burned houses. The Druze The Druze 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. Others mostly live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. During Syria's civil war, the Druze were split between supporting Assad, who offered them a degree of autonomy and exemption from army conscription, and his opposition. They established their own militias, partly to defend against Islamic militants who consider them heretics. Until this week's clashes, the Druze were split between those who wanted to integrate with the new government and those seeking to maintain autonomy. The Bedouins While predominantly Druze, Sweida is also home to Bedouin tribes who are Sunni Muslim and who have on occasion clashed with the Druze. In 2000, unrest broke out after a Bedouin killed a Druze man in a land dispute. Assad's forces intervened, shooting Druze protesters. After a 2018 Islamic State group attack on the Druze in Sweida that killed more than 200 people, the Druze accused the Bedouins of helping the militants. The latest escalation began with a Bedouin tribe in Sweida setting up a checkpoint and attacking and robbing a Druze man, which triggered tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. Al-Sharaa's forces then intervened, ostensibly to restore calm, but sided with the Bedouins. Some Druze groups allegedly carried out revenge attacks against Bedouins after a ceasefire was reached. Israel Israel frequently launched strikes on Iranian and Iran-backed forces who were Assad's allies during Syria's civil war. Since Assad's fall, Israel has been suspicious of the new Islamist authorities in Damascus. Israeli forces seized have control of a U.N.-patrolled buffer zone in Syria and carried out airstrikes on military sites in what officials they was a move to create a demilitarized zone south of Damascus. Washington has been pushing for Syria and Israel to move toward normalizing relations. Syrian officials have acknowledged holding indirect talks with Israel to defuse tensions. Israel stepped up its intervention during the Sweida escalation this week, saying it was acting to protect the Druze, who are seen as a loyal minority in Israel and often serve in the military. Israel launched dozens of airstrikes on convoys of Syrian forces around Sweida and struck the headquarters of the Syrian Ministry of Defense in the heart of Damascus. The U.S. In a watershed moment, President Donald Trump met with al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia in May, a major boost from Washington as the new Damascus authorities try to consolidate control. Amid the Sweida violence, the U.S., which has been pushing to broker ties between Syria and Israel, launched a flurry of diplomacy to push for a ceasefire. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. was 'very worried' about the violence, describing it as a 'direct threat to efforts to help build a peaceful and stable Syria,' and added that Washington was in 'repeated and constant talks with the governments of Syria and Israel' to deescalate. Turkey Turkey, an ally of both the U.S. and al-Sharaa's government, was also part of the mediation efforts over Sweida. Ankara wants a strong state in Damascus and is primarily concerned with curtailing the influence of Kurdish groups in Syria along the border with Turkey — specifically, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. While the Kurdish SDF fighters are allied with the U.S. and were key in defeating the Islamic State militants, Ankara considers them terrorists because of their association with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, which has waged a long-running insurgency in Turkey. The Kurdish-led forces The Kurdish-led SDF controls much of northeast Syria and was not part of the Sweida violence. But its fighters have in the past clashed with Turkish-backed groups that are now part of the new Syrian government forces. In March, the SDF and Damascus signed a landmark deal — backed by Washington — under which the Kurdish-led forces would merge with the new Syrian national army. The deal also said Syria's border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast that are now under the SDF control would be turned over to the central government. But the details of the deal were left vague, and the two sides have been at odds over how to implement it. The Sweida escalation could further sideline those discussions.
