Clashes rage in Syrian city as Israel launches strike on Damascus
Clashes have raged in the Syrian city of Sweida after a ceasefire between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed and as Israel threatened to escalate its involvement.
The Israeli army said that it struck near the entrance to the Syrian Ministry of Defence in Damascus.
Israel has launched a series of air strikes on convoys of government forces in southern Syria since the clashes erupted and has beefed up forces on the border, saying that it is acting to protect the Druze religious minority.
Syria’s Defence Ministry had earlier blamed militias in Sweida for violating a ceasefire agreement that had been reached on Tuesday, causing Syrian army soldiers to return fire and continue military operations in the Druze-majority province.
“Military forces continue to respond to the source of fire inside the city of Sweida, while adhering to rules of engagement to protect residents, prevent harm, and ensure the safe return of those who left the city back to their homes,” the statement said.
A rebel offensive led by Islamist insurgent groups ousted Syria’s long-time despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. Since then, the country’s new rulers have struggled to consolidate control over the territory.
The primarily Sunni Muslim leaders have faced suspicion from religious and ethnic minorities.
The fears of minorities increased after clashes between government forces and pro-Assad armed groups in March spiralled into sectarian revenge attacks in which hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority, to which Assad belongs, were killed.
The latest escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province.
Government forces that intervened to restore order have also clashed with the Druze while reports have surfaced of members of the security forces carrying out extra-judicial killings, looting and burning civilian homes.
No official casualty figures have been released since Monday, when the Syrian Interior Ministry said 30 people had been killed. The UK-based war monitor, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said more than 250 people had been killed as of Wednesday morning, including four children, five women and 138 soldiers and security forces.
The observatory said at least 21 people were killed in “field executions”.
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.
More than half the roughly one 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 Middle East War and annexed in 1981.
In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the military.
In Syria, the Druze have been divided over how to deal with the country’s new leaders, with some advocating for integrating into the new system while others have remained suspicious of the authorities in Damascus and pushed for an autonomous Druze region.
On Wednesday, Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the Israeli army “will continue to attack regime forces until they withdraw from the area — and will also soon raise the bar of responses against the regime if the message is not understood”.
