<\/a><\/p>\nThe Druze religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs. In addition to Syria, there are sizeable communities of Druze in Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.<\/p>\n
Syrian Druze and other minorities have remained suspicious of Sharaa since he took power because of his jihadist past. His Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN.<\/p>\n
Their fears have been heightened by several outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, including one in May between Druze militias, security forces and allied Islamist fighters that also prompted Israel intervene militarily.<\/p>\n
In his speech early on Thursday, Sharaa stressed that the Druze were \u201ca fundamental part of the fabric of this nation\u201d, and that he rejected any attempt for them to be dragged into the hands of what he called \u201can external party\u201d.<\/p>\n
The president said government forces deployed to Suweida had \u201csucceeded in restoring stability and expelling outlawed factions despite the Israeli interventions\u201d, which he said caused a \u201csignificant complication of the situation\u201d and \u201ca large-scale escalation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Responsibility for security in Suweida would now be handed to religious elders and some local factions \u201cbased on the supreme national interest\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n
Sharaa ended the speech by promising that the government was \u201ckeen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people\u201d.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Israel\u2019s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the country\u2019s own Druze citizens that Israeli forces were \u201cacting to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the gangs of the regime\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Israeli military said its aircraft struck the Syrian military\u2019s headquarters in Damascus and a military site near the presidential palace, as well as armoured vehicles on their way to Suweida, and firing posts and weapons storage facilities in southern Syria.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are acting decisively to prevent the entrenchment of hostile elements beyond the border, to protect the citizens of the State of Israel, and to prevent the harming of Druze civilians,\u201d the military\u2019s chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said during a visit to the Golan Heights.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n
The general also said there was \u201cno room for disorder near the border fence\u201d, after hundreds of Druze crossed the heavily fortified frontier with Syria on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said it was speaking to all of the parties involved and had \u201cagreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis will require all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made and this is what we fully expect them to do,\u201d he added, without giving any details.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitoring group, says more than 350 people have been killed since Sunday.<\/p>\n
They include 79 Druze fighters and 55 civilians, 27 of whom were summarily killed by interior ministry and defence ministry forces, according to the group.<\/p>\n
At least 189 members of the government forces and 18 Bedouin tribal fighters have also been killed in the clashes, it says.<\/p>\n
It was not immediately possible to verify the SOHR\u2019s casualty figures, but Syrian security sources also said Wednesday that the death toll was close to 300.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Syria\u2019s interim president has said it is his \u201cpriority\u201d to protect the country\u2019s Druze citizens, after Israel vowed to destroy government forces it accused of attacking members of the religious minority in Suweida province. In his first televised statement since Israel\u2019s air strikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Ahmed al-Sharaa also warned that Syrians were not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118333\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}