The Britain-essentially based entirely Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a minimum of 73 folks had been killed in two days of sectarian clashes in suburbs of Damascus and the south of the nation.
Fighting between Druze and Sunni gunmen used to be sparked by a relate recording cursing the Prophet Mohammed, which Sunni militants claimed used to be made by a Druze.
The non secular authority for the Druze neighborhood in Jaramana, where the fighting started, has condemned the recording, insisting it used to be fabricated to “sow division amongst the oldsters of the identical nation”.
The governor of the Damascus suburbs mentioned a truce used to be reached on Wednesday between the two aspects fighting in Jaramana and Ashrafiet Sahnaya, nonetheless that folks had died in an Israeli airstrike.
“There used to be a demise from a security patrol and in addition a civilian in the city of Ashrafiet Sahnaya and there had been a amount of wounded on every aspect, from security patrols and civilians,” mentioned Amer al-Sheikh.
Israel claims the assault utilized in Sahnaya on what it known as an “extremist neighborhood” used to be to guard the Druze inhabitants living in the city.
With out mentioning Israel, Damascus mentioned in a assertion on Wednesday that it rejected “all kinds of international intervention” in the nation’s internal affairs.
It reiterated its commitment to guard all groups within the nation, including the Druze non secular minority, which started as a tenth-century offshoot of Shiite Islam.
Greater than half of the roughly one million Druze worldwide reside in Syria.
In the intervening time, the authorities mentioned Syrian security forces had been deployed to both Jaramana and Ashrafiet Sahnaya.
Residents mentioned the grief had largely calmed after intense fighting.
Ashrafiet Sahnaya resident, Mohammad Amayri, mentioned the Druze, Sunni, Alawite, and Shiite groups within the nation could well perchance mild all be united.
“Uncontrolled weapons by any celebration, from any aspect, desires to be in the arms of the whine. We are required to beget weapons in the arms of the whine handiest,” he mentioned.
Druze militias, prominent in the southwest of Syria, beget an uneasy relationship with the latest authorities, which is dominated by Sunni groups.
The recent Islamist-led leadership known as for all arms to fall below their authority, nonetheless Druze opponents beget resisted, saying Damascus has didn’t guarantee their protection from antagonistic militants.
This newest unrest comes as the Syrian authorities, in vitality since the December fall of President Bashar al-Assad, tries to claim its control over your complete nation.
