Syrian Forces Deployed in Majority-Druse Town After Clash
Syrian security forces were deployed across a predominately Druse town on the outskirts of Damascus, the capital, early Sunday, two days after a gunfight between government officers and armed men from a local neighborhood left one person dead and several others wounded.
A tense calm has returned to the town, Jaramana, after the deadly clash Friday night between the security forces of Syria's new government and the Druse, a religious minority. The person killed was a security officer, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which added that nine other people were wounded.
Druse spiritual leaders blamed the killing on 'an undisciplined mob that does not belong to our customs, nor to our known monotheistic traditions or customs.'
There were conflicting reports about how the episode unfolded in Jaramana, but the clash was thrust into the international spotlight on Saturday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said he had instructed the military 'to prepare and deliver a strong and clear warning message: If the regime harms the Druse — it will be harmed by us.'
The Druse are a religious minority with populations in Syria, including the Golan Heights territory, which Israel captured and illegally annexed, and in Lebanon and Israel.
Syrian Druse and government leaders swiftly and strongly rejected any threats of intervention by Israel.
'We are Syrian Arab nationals, and we await a response from the administration and government,' said Rabih Munthir, a Druse leader in Jaramana. 'We are not asking for protection from anyone, and we won't ask for protection from anyone. We are citizens who have been living on this land for more than 1,000 years.'
A Syrian security official, Lt. Col. Hossam al-Tahan, the chief of the security directorate in the Damascus suburbs, said Saturday that it was working with local leaders to track down all who had been involved in the shooting.
'We affirm that no entity will be allowed to undermine Syria's unity,' he said, according to the Syrian state media. 'Our only issue is with those who carried out the attack and assault, and we urge rational minds to recognize that this path threatens Syria's security, stability and unity.'
Just days after Syrian rebels ousted President Bashar al-Assad in early December, Israel carried out numerous incursions in Syria, raiding villages, launching hundreds of airstrikes, destroying military outposts and threatening residents. Israel has described the incursions as temporary measures to protect its own security, but they have gone on for three months and have raised fears among Syrians of a prolonged military occupation.
Israel's attacks on Syria have been condemned internationally, and in January the United Nations said that 'Syria's sovereignty, territorial unity, and integrity must be fully restored.'
Since Mr. al-Assad and his government were ousted by the rebel coalition, its leader, Ahmed al-Shara, who was appointed interim president last month, has sought to allay concerns that his Sunni Islamist group would target religious minorities.
He has spoken regularly of the need to unite Syria's many religious and ethnic minorities to build a new Syria after more than 13 years of a brutal civil war.
Last week, the country held its first national dialogue which included representatives from Syria's many sects, including Sunnis, Alawites, Druse, Christians and Kurds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
World Bank Ends Its Ban on Funding Nuclear Power Projects
The world's largest and most influential development bank said on Wednesday it would lift its longstanding ban on funding nuclear power projects. The decision by the board of the World Bank could have profound implications for the ability of developing countries to industrialize without burning planet-warming fuels such as coal and oil. The ban has been formally in place since 2013, but the last time the bank funded a nuclear power project was 1959 in Italy. In the decades since, a few of the bank's major funders, particularly Germany, have opposed its involvement in nuclear energy, on the grounds that the risk of catastrophic accidents in poor countries with less expertise in nuclear technology was unacceptably high. The bank's policy shift, described in an email to employees late on Wednesday, comes as nuclear power is experiencing a global surge in support. Casting nuclear power as an essential replacement for fossil fuels, more than 20 countries — including the United States, Canada, France and Ghana — signed a pledge to triple nuclear power by 2050 at the United Nations' flagship climate conference two years ago. The Trump administration, while far less concerned about climate change than it is with competing against the Russian and Chinese nuclear industries, is trying to expand the fleet of American reactors and quadruple their contribution to the country's electric grids. Cabinet officials have emphasized support for a new generation of smaller reactors that offer the promise of faster deployment but have yet to be proven. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Syria government says women must wear burkinis at public beaches
Syria's Islamist-led interim government has decreed that women must wear burkinis - a swimsuit that covers the body except for the face, hands and feet - or other "decent" clothes at public beaches and swimming pools. The regulations, issued by the tourism ministry, were "aimed at enhancing public safety standards and preserving public decency", Syrian state news channel Al-Ikhbariyah al-Suriyah reported. Private beaches, clubs and pools, as well as hotels with more than four stars, are exempt, the directive said. Women often dress modestly on public beaches in Syria, but some women do opt for more Western styles of swimwear. The new government previously pledged to govern inclusively. Under the new directive, beachgoers and visitors to public pools must wear "more modest swimwear", specifying "the burkini or swimming clothes that cover more of the body". The decree added that women should wear a cover-up or loose clothing over their swimwear when they move between swimming areas. "Travelling in swimwear outside the beach without appropriate cover is prohibited," it said. Men should also wear a shirt when they are not swimming, and are not allowed to be bare-chested outside swimming areas. The statement said "normal Western swimwear" was generally allowed in exempted places "within the limits of public taste". More generally, people should wear loose clothing that covers the shoulders and knees and "avoid transparent and tight clothing", the decree added. The directive did not say whether those who fail to follow the rules would be penalised or how the rules would be enforced. But it did say lifeguards and supervisors would be appointed to monitor compliance on beaches. It also included other safety regulations around pools and beaches. Reacting to the new rule, one woman from Idlib in the north-west of the country told the BBC's World Service that, while she could see both sides of the argument, "I do think there is a positive to this, from a moral and respectful point of view". Celine said: "Some people and families don't feel comfortable seeing or wearing too much exposed skin and I believe that is a valid perspective." But another woman, Rita, who lives in the capital, Damascus, said she was "not comfortable" with the new rule, "especially as we are not used to such laws". "In the coastal area, different ladies from different religions all have been going there and until now, we wore what we wanted," she said. "Religious people could avoid those in bikinis. But this law makes us scared of where to go." She added: "We have no problem with the burkini itself, but it's a problem with the concept that the government are controlling this." In December last year, Islamist rebel forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled Bashar al-Assad's regime, bringing years of civil war to an end. Since then, al-Sharaa, now the country's interim president, has promised to run the country in an inclusive way. In an interview with the BBC shortly after he took power, he said he believed in education for women and denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan - which has severely curtailed women's rights. In March, Sharaa signed a constitutional declaration covering a five-year transitional period. The document said Islam was the religion of the president, as the previous constitution did, and Islamic jurisprudence was "the main source of legislation", rather than "a main source". The declaration also guaranteed women's rights, freedom of expression and media freedom. Rubio warns Syria could be weeks away from 'full-scale civil war' Trump expected to meet Syrian leader after announcing he will lift sanctions
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
As Trump's ‘two week' deadline for Russia expires, he faces a series of unresolved foreign conflicts
Two weeks after President Donald Trump set a 14-day timeline for determining the willingness of his Russian counterpart to end the conflict in Ukraine, he says he is coming to believe Vladimir Putin doesn't care about the human cost of his war. 'I'm starting to think maybe he doesn't,' Trump said when an interviewer asked whether Putin minded losing thousands of his soldiers in Ukraine every week. The candid admission, made in a New York Post podcast recorded this week, underscored the difficulties Trump continues to face in brokering complex international deals, including on issues he once said could be easily resolved. He also now appears less confident in striking a nuclear deal with Iran, despite saying days ago he believed the talks were progressing in the right direction. And negotiations to end the war in Gaza have been deadlocked, with Trump's agitation toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deepening. While Trump did find success this week in working out an agreement with China to roll back some of the punitive measures each side had enacted amid a worsening trade war, it wasn't clear how long the new framework would hold. A deal made last month in Switzerland with similar terms quickly fell apart. And so far there has been only one trade agreement to emerge from the 90-day negotiating period Trump set with US partners this spring after pausing his reciprocal tariffs. The deadline comes due in early July. Even Trump's overtures to his onetime pen-pal Kim Jong Un have apparently fallen flat. Attempts to deliver a letter from Trump to the North Korean dictator were rebuffed by diplomats based at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, according to the Seoul-based NK News, scuttling immediate hopes of rekindling the first-term friendship Trump enjoyed with the strongman. 'The president remains receptive to correspondence with Kim Jong Un. He'd like to see the progress that was made at that (2018) summit in Singapore,' press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday when asked about the report. But the administration hasn't given up on any of the difficult issues that remain unresolved. Despite suggesting he might walk away entirely from the Russia-Ukraine war, Trump hasn't entirely abandoned his efforts. He is entering an intensive stretch of summitry that is likely to focus on the war, including a Group of 7 meeting in Canada next week and a NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month. His team, led by special envoy Steve Witkoff, plans another round of Iran talks in the coming days, even amid loudening opposition to a deal from some Iran hawks and Israeli officials. And trade talks continue apace as the July 9 deadline nears. 'You're going to see deal after deal that's going to start coming next week. And the week after and the week after,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC on Wednesday. 'We've got lots of them in the hopper. We just want to make sure they're the best deal we can possibly make. We don't want to rush.' Still, Trump's own comments this week offered stark insight into his frustrated — and, for him, frustrating — attempts at negotiating deals around the world. 'We make progress and then all of a sudden, something gets bombed that shouldn't be bombed, and that's the end of the progress,' he said of the Ukraine conflict, describing a two-steps-forward, one-step-back reality to the grinding efforts to broker a ceasefire. It was two weeks ago Wednesday that Trump vowed to have an answer in a fortnight on Putin's willingness to end the war, a timeline he's used repeatedly this spring when questioned about his Ukraine policy. Since then, Trump has not made a decision on applying new sanctions on Moscow, even as his Republican allies on Capitol Hill agitate for harsher measures and Europe imposes new restrictions on Russia's oil and gas sector. 'I'll use it if it's necessary,' he told reporters aboard Air Force One last Friday. He said senators, many of whom have signed on to a bill to increase sanctions on Russia, are leaving the decision up to him. But he said he hadn't discussed the matter with them. 'I haven't spoken to them about it,' he said. 'They have a bill, it's going to be up to me, it's my option.' At the same time, Trump hasn't taken steps toward boosting military assistance to Ukraine, which this week has come under some of the biggest drone assaults of the war. It's something he's likely to hear about from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the upcoming summits, which Zelensky is expected to attend. Trump's defense chief Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Tuesday there would be a 'reduction in this budget' of military assistance to Kyiv. 'This administration takes a very different view of that conflict. We believe that a negotiated peaceful settlement is in the best interest of both parties and our nation's interests, especially with all the competing interests around the globe,' Hegseth said in congressional testimony. Since he offered the two-week deadline two weeks ago, Trump spoke to Putin once. But in his own telling, the conversation was not enough to prompt an immediate peace. 'We had a good conversation,' Trump said. 'But so far, nothing's come of it.' So, too, has nothing come yet from his efforts to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions. 'I'm getting more and more less confident about it. They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame, but I'm less confident now than I would have been a couple of months ago,' Trump said in the podcast interview. 'Something happened to them, but I am much less confident of a deal being made,' he went on, saying it was his 'instincts' telling him a deal was moving further from reach. At issue is Iran's insistence it be able to continue enriching uranium, which Trump has said it must give up in order to see some sanctions lifted as part of a deal. That's much the same issue that prolonged nuclear talks with Iran under Barack Obama, whose eventual deal allowed low levels of enrichment. Trump withdrew from the pact during his first term, but now finds himself working through many of the same sticking points. A new round of talks with Iran is set to take place in the coming days, US officials have said. The US has been waiting for an official response from Tehran to its latest proposal. A two-month deadline to reach a deal that Trump set in a letter to Iran's leaders in April is set to expire this week. In the podcast interview, Trump said Iran would regret not making a deal, since the alternative was war. 'It would be nicer to do it without warfare, without people dying,' he said. 'Yes, so much nicer to do it. But I don't think I see the same level of enthusiasm for them to make a deal.' This story has been updated with new reporting.
