Syrian President Condemns Israeli Airstrikes on Damascus
In a televised statement, Mr. al-Shara condemned Israel for the 'wide-scale targeting of civilian and government facilities' after it intervened following clashes between Syrian government forces, local Bedouin groups and militias from the Druse religious minority.
Mr. al-Shara's speech was his most direct condemnation of Israel since he took power in January and came after multiple days of deadly clashes in the southern Syrian province of Sweida, the heartland of the country's Druse minority and a strategically important region near Jordan and Israel.
The violence erupted on Sunday with clashes between mostly Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druse militias in Sweida. As the unrest escalated, the Syrian government deployed military forces to Sweida to quell the conflict. But some Druse militia leaders — who deeply distrust Syria's new authorities — thought that the government forces were coming to attack the Druse. The militias then mobilized to repel the incoming government forces.
The violence prompted fears that the fighting could swell into a wider sectarian conflict. It also drew in neighboring Israel, which is home to a sizable Druse minority population and has pledged to protect the minority community.
Amid the clashes, Israel launched airstrikes on government forces in both Sweida and Damascus. The attacks in the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday came as the Israeli defense minister, Israel Katz, threatened to intensify strikes unless the Syrian government withdrew its forces from Sweida.
Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes and carried out incursions into southern Syria since a rebel group led by Mr. al-Shara overthrew the government of Bashar al-Assad in December, but the strikes on Wednesday were a significant escalation of its bombing campaign.
At least 350 people have been killed in Sweida since Sunday, including government forces, Druse fighters and civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group based in Britain.
By early Thursday, the situation appeared to have calmed down. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, said on social media that the United States had helped broker an agreement between all parties involved in the clashes.
In his televised address, Mr. al-Shara said that the Israeli strikes could have pushed 'matters to a large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate.'
The Syrian government and a prominent Druse spiritual leader also announced a cease-fire, and Syria's state news agency reported that troops were leaving Sweida on Wednesday night. Mr. al-Shara said that the 'responsibility' for security in Sweida would be handed over to elders and local factions as part of that agreement.
The Syrian president added that those responsible for the violence against the Druse would be held accountable as the community was 'under the protection and responsibility of the state.'
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