Lethal clashes fueled by sectarian tensions erupted on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus, killing a minimum of 9 individuals, Syrian officers and a battle monitoring group mentioned on Tuesday.
The violence erupted in a single day from Monday to Tuesday within the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, which has a big inhabitants from the minority Druse sect. It started after an audio clip circulated on social media of a person insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The clip was attributed to a Druse cleric.
The cleric and Druse spiritual figures in Jaramana denied the accusation. The Syrian Inside Ministry mentioned that its preliminary findings confirmed that the cleric was not accountable and appealed for calm.
As public anger over the clip grew, fighters in armored autos amassed in a single day outdoors Jaramana and started shelling town, in response to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a battle monitoring group based mostly in Britain. Heavy gun battles additionally broke out.
The audio clip set off demonstrations in numerous different cities, with a few of the protesters inciting violence in opposition to the Druse, in response to the Observatory.
The Observatory didn’t say who was behind the assault on Jaramana, which additionally wounded 17 individuals. However native Druse spiritual authorities within the metropolis mentioned in a press release that they held the federal government “absolutely liable for what occurred and any worsening of the state of affairs.”
As day broke on Tuesday, Syrian safety forces deployed on the outskirts of Jaramana and positioned a safety cordon across the space to forestall further clashes, the inside ministry mentioned, including that members of the federal government’s safety forces had been among the many casualties within the clashes.
This was the newest in waves of sectarian violence in Syria since Islamist rebels overthrew the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, stoking fears among the many nation’s many minority teams that these rebels — who now management the federal government and army — will marginalize and even goal them.
Lethal preventing erupted in Jaramana across the starting of March as nicely, when Druse fought gun battles with the brand new authorities’s safety forces.
Syria is a predominantly Sunni Muslim nation, whereas the Druse apply a secretive faith and don’t take into account themselves Muslims. The rebels who led the offensive in Syria belonged to a Sunni Islamist group that was as soon as linked to Al Qaeda.
The nation’s new leaders have wrestled to combine the complicated net of armed teams working throughout the nation into the brand new state equipment. A number of of the strongest Druse militias are in talks with the federal government about their situations for integrating into the brand new military.
Syria has already seen one critical wave of sectarian-driving killings final month in two coastal provinces which have massive populations of Alawites, the minority group that the Assad household belongs to. The world as soon as shaped the heartland of Mr. al-Assad’s base of help.
The violence started with Assad loyalists launching a coordinated assault on the brand new authorities’s forces within the coastal area. 1000’s of pro-government gunmen then stormed the 2 coastal provinces and killed greater than 1,600 civilians, largely Alawites, inside a couple of days, in response to the Observatory.
The violence underscored the issue Syria’s information leaders are going through in controlling the varied armed teams and former rebels who’ve nominally joined the federal government.
“There’s real worry amongst residents and metropolis residents that the state of affairs could slide right into a harmful spiral, repeating the grim expertise of the coastal area,” mentioned Rabee Mounzer, an area official from Jaramana.
