Syria: a Druze chief denounces a “genocidal campaign”

The most influential Druze religious leader in Syria attacked Ahmed Al-Chareh on Thursday, denouncing a “genocidal campaign” against his community, after confessional clashes left more than 100 dead at the start of the week according to an NGO.

The religious authorities, traditional leaders and Druzes armed groups also stressed that their community constituted “an inalienable part” of Syria, after a rally Thursday evening in the city of Soueïda (South).

Taking up the cause for the Druze, Israel, a country close to Syria with which he is technically at war, threatened to respond “forcefully” if the Syrian government did not protect this minority.

The clashes near and south of Damascus between Druzes fighters and armed groups linked to Sunni power illustrate the persistent instability in Syria, almost five months after the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad, from the Alaouite minority.

“A government does not kill its people”

In a statement, Cheikh Hikmat al-Hajri denounced an “unjustified genocidal campaign” aimed at “civilians”, and claimed “immediate intervention by international forces”.

“We no longer trust an entity that claims to be a government. (…) A government does not kill its people by using its own extremist militias, then, after the massacres, claiming that these are uncontrolled elements. ”

Assaad al-Chaibani, chief of the diplomacy of the new power in Damascus, retorted on X that “any call to foreign intervention, under any pretext or slogan whatsoever, will lead to a deterioration of the situation and to more divisions”.

On Thursday, the UN urged “all parties to show maximum detention”.

“An inalienable part of Syria”

The fighting in Jaramana and Sahnaya, where Christians and Druze live, as well as in Soueida, a majority of Druze, woke up the specter of the massacres which left more than 1,700 dead in early March, in the vast majority of members of the Alawite minority, in the west of the country. The violence had been launched by pro-assad attacks on the security forces.

Israel has called for the international community to “protect minorities in Syria – in particular the Druze – of the regime and its terrorist bands”, by the voice of its Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar.

On Wednesday, the Israeli army had carried out strikes near Damascus, “a warning action” against an “extremist group which was preparing to attack the Druze population of the city of Sahnaya” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Druzes are a minority from Shiite Islam. Its members are distributed in particular between Lebanon, Syria and Israel. “We are an inalienable part of Syria,” said a spokesperson for the rally of religious authorities, traditional leaders and armed groups Druzes Thursday evening in Soueida, adding that the community rejected “any division” of the country.

A message deemed blasphemous

The fighting in Syria was launched on Monday evening by an attack of armed groups affiliated to power against Jaramana, after the broadcast on the social networks of an audio message attributed to a Druze and judged blasphemous with regard to the Prophet Muhammad. AFP could not verify the authenticity of the message. Syrian authorities have accused elements that escape its control of having caused violence.

According to a latest assessment of the Syrian Human Rights Observatory (OSDH), these clashes left 102 dead, including 30 members of the affiliated security forces, 21 Druzes and 11 civilians in Jaramana and Sahnaya. In the province of Soueida (South), 40 Druzes fighters perished, including 35 in an ambush, according to the NGO.

In Jaramana, agreements between representatives of the Druzes and power made it possible to restore calm on Tuesday evening, and also Wednesday evening in Sahnaya 15 km southwest of Damascus, where security forces were deployed. On this occasion, the Syrian power reaffirmed its “firm commitment to protect all the components of the Syrian people, including the Druze community”.

From the fall of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, overthrown by a coalition of Islamist rebel factions led by Ahmed al-Chareh after more than 13 years of civil war, Israel has multiplied the gestures of opening towards the Druze, seeking, according to independent analyst Michael Horowitz, to manage allies in the South Syrian at a time when the future of this country remains uncertain.

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