Clashes have erupted in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, this week.
The violence, which initially concerned native armed males from the Druze spiritual minority and unknown gunmen from different cities, has killed at the very least 30 individuals.
Syrian safety forces intervened to revive calm, however then Israel attacked Syria, claiming it was “defending the Druze”.
The unrest comes because the Syrian authorities, in energy for the reason that fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in December, tries to claim its management over the entire nation.
So, what’s occurring in Syria?
How did the newest unrest in Syria begin?
Observers agree that the unrest appears to have began when a voice recording of a person cursing the Prophet Muhammad circulated, with claims {that a} Druze chief was talking. The authenticity of the recording is questionable.
But it surely provoked the fury of many Syrians, and on Tuesday, a bunch of unknown gunmen attacked the principally Druze city of Jaramana.
The Syrian Ministry of Inside says that its forces went to interrupt up the clashes, earlier than being attacked themselves.
The lifeless on Tuesday included at the very least two members of Syria’s Normal Safety Providers, the authorities stated, whereas the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) stated six Druze fighters and three “attackers” had been additionally killed.
Then, on Wednesday, preventing unfold to Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, one other city within the Damascus suburbs with a big Druze inhabitants.
A supply within the Syrian Inside Ministry instructed Al Jazeera that 16 members of the safety forces had been killed in an assault on a safety checkpoint in Sahnaya. That prompted extra preventing, and 6 Druze fighters had been killed, in response to the SOHR.
Israel then launched air assaults on Sahnaya, focusing on safety personnel, in response to the Inside Ministry, whereas Israel stated it had attacked “extremists”.
The Syrian authorities have since introduced that calm has been restored in each Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.
What led to the violence?
Syria’s new administration is making an attempt to stabilise the nation, however fallout from 12-plus years of struggle, the various armed teams within the nation and the instability that comes with massive modifications have made for a unstable setting.
The worst unrest was in early March when hundreds were killed in Syria’s coastal region.
Fighters loyal to the Assad regime attacked safety forces, setting off the violence as fighters from different areas got here in to combat, and widespread assaults had been reported towards civilians, many from the previous president’s Alawite sect.
There’s concern in Syria that al-Assad’s supporters will preserve making an attempt to overthrow the brand new authorities, who haven’t but been in a position to exert energy and supply safety throughout the entire nation.
A few of that concern has morphed into suspicion of minorities equivalent to Alawites and Druze.
The minorities, in flip, concern this suspicion and fear about the truth that there are nonetheless armed fighters with backgrounds in teams equivalent to al-Qaeda.
The brand new authorities has emphasised that each one are equal within the new Syria, however that has but to quieten these fears.
Add to this combine the potential for pretend information to unfold on social media, and the nation is rife with the tensions that led to the newest preventing in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya.
Why is Israel concerned?
Israel appears to have stepped up its assaults on Syria and is occupying increasingly more land for the reason that fall of al-Assad.
It already illegally occupied a part of the Syrian Golan Heights alongside the border, and recurrently bombed websites in Syria it claimed belonged to pro-Iranian teams like Lebanon’s Hezbollah.
When al-Assad fled, Israel noticed a chance, analysts say, and stepped up its assaults, claiming that the brand new authorities is “extremist” and cloaking itself as a defender of the Druze in Syria, a part of whose neighborhood lives underneath Israeli management.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated “he wouldn’t permit” Syrian authorities forces to function in Syrian territory south of the capital, Damascus, calling for the “full demilitarisation” of the world.
Some Israelis have referred to as for taking management of Druze-majority areas in southern Syria, claiming that might create an alliance of minorities throughout the Center East.
On Wednesday, after the preventing in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, the Israeli navy stated that it had taken three Syrian Druze to Israel to obtain medical therapy.
Who’re the Druze, and who do they assist?
The Druze, an ethnoreligious Arabic-speaking group that grew out of Ismaili Shia Islam, dwell in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria in addition to Israel, particularly the occupied Golan Heights.
No person can declare to know who “all of the Druze” assist. People or sub-groups inside every nationwide neighborhood may have differing opinions.
The Druze inhabitants in Israel is estimated at 150,000, and Israel conscripts their younger males into the military, whereas it doesn’t conscript Palestinian residents of Israel.
The Druze in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria are brazenly supportive of the Palestinian trigger, whereas Syrian Druze leaders have vehemently rejected the thought of friendlier ties with Israel.
The communities are essential gamers of their nations’ politics, significantly in Lebanon, the place Druze chief Walid Jumblatt has been influential for many years.
In Syria, many Druze had been lively within the opposition towards al-Assad, and have been publicly supportive of the brand new authorities.
