Latest news with #Druse
New York Times
6 days ago
- General
- New York Times
Islamic State Says It Targeted Syrian Forces in Bombings
The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for two bomb explosions, the first time the extremist group has directly targeted the new government since it took over in December, a war monitoring group said. In two statements posted online on Thursday and reported by the SITE Intelligence Group, ISIS claimed that bombs laid by its members had killed and wounded government soldiers and allied militia members. The Syrian government did not report any attacks by ISIS in the area, but announced that it had conducted two raids against Islamic State operatives in the Damascus area in the past week. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, reported that one person was killed and three members of the Syrian Army's 70th Division were wounded when a patrol was hit by a remote-controlled land mine in the east of Sweida Province on Wednesday. The man killed was accompanying the government forces, it said. The two attacks claimed by ISIS took place in the southern province of Sweida, where the group has not been active for the best part of a decade. But the government has struggled to establish security in the province, which is effectively controlled by the Druse minority. Sectarian clashes between local militants and pro-government forces in the province killed more than 100 in late April and early May. The Islamic State, which controlled large parts of Iraq and Syria a decade ago until U.S. and allied Syrian forces largely defeated it, has continued a low-level insurgency in eastern Syria since 2019. But it has shown a renewed vigor since the fall of the dictator Bashar al-Assad in December, plotting attacks even in the capital, Damascus, and claiming responsibility for a car bombing among other attacks in eastern Syria. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Boston Globe
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump's Warming Toward Syria Complicates Israel's Military Strategy
Israel has also called the new Syrian government, led by an Islamist rebel faction once linked to al-Qaida, 'extremist.' Advertisement But just days after Israel's May 2 airstrike near the palace in Damascus, President Donald Trump upended decades of U.S. foreign policy by meeting with President Ahmad al-Sharaa of Syria and announcing plans to lift all sanctions on the country. Trump said al-Sharaa had 'a real shot at pulling it together,' after a nearly 14-year civil war fractured his country. Since that meeting May 14, the Israeli strikes on Syria have all but stopped. The United States is Israel's staunchest and most powerful ally. But Trump's surprise embrace of al-Sharaa not only offered the new Syrian leader an unexpected lifeline, it also appears to have undercut efforts by the hard-line Israeli government to seize on the instability in Syria and the weakness of the new government to prevent the rise of another anti-Israel neighbor. Advertisement 'Israel has serious doubts about his true intention and the pragmatic image that he is trying to project,' Carmit Valensi, a senior researcher at the think tank Institute for National Security Studies, said of al-Sharaa. Before Trump's declaration of confidence in the new Syrian leader, Netanyahu and his top aides in Israel had been determined to deny al-Sharaa and his nascent government access to the vast array of heavy weaponry amassed by the Assad regime over its decades in power. 'The most significant part of the Israeli airstrikes in Syria over the past four months was aimed against strategic weapons that were under the possession of the former Syrian army,' Valensi said, adding that the Israeli government now appears to be starting to find ways to avoid more confrontation. 'All of this is indicating a direction of deconfliction and de-escalation and more willingness to open a dialogue with the Syrian regime,' she said. Publicly, Israeli officials have described a number of drivers behind their attacks on Syria. One was a kinship with the Druse religious minority in Syria, who practice an offshoot of Islam. About 150,000 Druse live in Israel, serve in the military and participate in politics. In a statement last month, the Israeli military vowed to assist Druse communities in Syria 'out of a deep commitment to our Druse brothers in Israel.' The Druse in Syria have long controlled the strategically located Sweida region in the southwest near Israel, but are not seen as a threat by the Israelis. In late April, when fierce sectarian clashes broke out between Druse militia fighters and forces linked to Syria's new government, Israel offered to come to the aid of the Druse. Advertisement Israeli leaders said the airstrike near the presidential palace was a warning to al-Sharaa to stop the attacks on the Druse. But the motivations behind the hundreds of strikes on Syria over the past months go beyond support for the Druse. Israel began its attacks on Syria almost immediately after Assad was driven from power on Dec. 8 after a 24-year tenure, more than half of it spent fighting a bloody civil war. Within about a week of Assad's fall, Israel had conducted more than 450 strikes on Syria, according to the military and humanitarian groups. The attacks took out the entire Syrian navy, fighter jets, drones, tanks, air-defense systems, weapons plants and a wide array of missiles and rockets across the country, according to the Israeli military. The new government in Syria has not attacked Israel since coming to power and has said the country is weary of war and wants to live at peace with all countries. Trump's olive branch to al-Sharaa complicates the Israeli strategy in Syria and is the latest example of how U.S. foreign policy is reshaping the Middle East. 'What we don't want in Syria is in another version of the Houthis,' said Yaakov Amidror, another former national security adviser to Netanyahu and a fellow at the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. The Iran-backed Houthis control northern Yemen and have been firing missiles at Israel since the war in the Gaza Strip began, in solidarity with the Palestinians. Al-Sharaa, who has long since distanced himself from his past connections to al-Qaida, insists that he wants to preside over a stable regime and be a reliable partner for Western nations. Advertisement But Israeli officials are skeptical at best. Many around Netanyahu see Syria's new administration as likely to evolve into a stridently Islamist, anti-Israel government. In March, Gideon Sa'ar, the Israeli foreign minister, said the idea that Syria was moving toward a reasonable government was 'ridiculous,' adding that al-Sharaa and his cohorts 'were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if some of their leaders have donned suits.' Still, the sheer volume and scope of Israel's attacks on Syria have drawn criticism from around the world, including from President Emmanuel Macron of France, who met with al-Sharaa in mid-May. 'You cannot ensure the security of your country by violating the territorial integrity of your neighbors,' Macron said of Israel. And even some inside Israel say that a concerted military campaign will not be good for Israel long term. Tamir Hayman, a former head of intelligence for the Israeli military who is the executive director of the Institute of National Security Studies, said he worries that the strikes are creating the very extremism Israel wants to deter. 'I think we are kind of doing it, sort of from momentum, and should reconsider all of those missions that we are conducting,' he said. Military experts say part of the motivation behind the Israeli strikes was Netanyahu's desire to secure the parts of southwestern Syria closest to the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau that Israel captured during the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed. The fear is that groups far more extreme than the Druse could establish a foothold close to Israel, with the ability to threaten Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights or launch attacks deeper into Israel. Advertisement After the Assad regime fell, Israeli troops also seized more Syrian territory. Another Israeli goal in Syria, according to former military officials and analysts, is to limit Turkey's influence in Syria. Israel and Turkey have had a fraught relationship over the years. And President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has moved quickly to establish military and political influence in neighboring Syria, positioning himself as a close ally to the government there. 'If the Turks try to make Syria a base for their military and help the current regime to build capacities that might be used against Israel, there might be conflict,' Amidror said. But it may be the United States' efforts at rapprochement with Syria that end up stymying Israeli military strategy in Syria. Trump said in a speech in Saudi Arabia this month that he hopes Syria's new government will succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. 'They've had their share of travesty, war, killing,' he said. 'That's why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
New York Times
03-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
‘We're All in One Ship': Druse in Syrian Town Rocked by Violence Agree to Disarm Militias
Sirens blaring, a truckful of armed men trailing in its wake, the black sport utility vehicle that sliced sharklike through the Syrian town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya on Friday morning was impossible to miss. Government forces had retaken control from the armed groups that turned the town into a sectarian battlefield for two days this week, killing dozens and exposing for all to see the new Syrian leaders' shaky grip on security. Now, government representatives had arrived to pledge peace to a skeptical town. In an airy, echoing religious meeting hall, two officials in suits sat shoulder to shoulder with white-bearded leaders of the Druse religious minority in traditional red-topped white hats, talking of unity. 'We're all in one ship,' said Jameel Mudawwar, the area's top official. 'If it sinks, God forbid, we'll all sink.' The words were not new, but this time they came with action. Syria's main Druse militias, who control a strategic swath of southern Syria near Israel, have resisted a push by the new Islamist government to be folded into the national military, fearing that acceding would endanger their people. But as the bloodshed mounted this week, local Druse leaders in Ashrafieh Sahnaya went the other way. In exchange for government concessions, including promises to investigate abuses committed during the clashes, they agreed to surrender their weapons and integrate some fighters into the government's forces. 'We should love each other, and we should all stand with each other,' the town's 86-year-old chief Druse religious leader, Sheikh Abu Rabih Haj Ali, said at Friday's meeting. 'We don't want to carry weapons. We don't want to be against the state.' It was what the government had hoped to hear for months now, after rebels from Syria's Sunni Muslim majority overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad in December. But many Syrians from the country's many religious and ethnic minorities remain wary of their new leaders amid repeated spasms of violence targeting minorities, including the Druse. This week, a debunked audio clip purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad incited Sunni extremists to attack Druse, including in Ashrafieh Sahnaya, south of Damascus, the capital. At least 101 people were killed, including government forces, Druse fighters and civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor. In Ashrafieh Sahnaya, where different sects have long coexisted peacefully, mortars and shells crashed into buildings. Drones struck from the sky, and residents cowered indoors as local Druse militia fighters battled government forces and armed Sunni extremists. The rebel coalition that toppled Mr. al-Assad included some Islamist extremist factions that remain outside central control, and that the Syrian authorities have shown little capacity to rein in. Israel, whose government is close to the Israeli Druse minority, then intervened in the name of protecting Syrian Druse, launching airstrikes on Syrian government targets. There are more than one million Druse across the Middle East, mostly in Syria and Lebanon, and some in Jordan and Israel. They practice a secretive offshoot of Islam. By Friday, the bloodshed still seemed more raw wound than memory for many. One man at Friday's meeting demanded government reassurances about security and safety. Dispensing with the conciliatory tone of the others present, he accused pro-government forces of slaughtering civilians. The officials at the meeting pleaded for patience. 'We are promising you a better life,' said Mr. Mudawwar, the government official. 'What happens to you will happen to us. It's the government's duty to protect everyone.' Some listeners bought it. Saleh Makiki, Mr. Haj Ali's nephew, said he had lost five relatives this week, including his father, a son and an uncle. Yet he said he was willing to move forward. 'Mistakes happened, but we have assurances now,' he said. The government later released 32 local men detained during the clashes, satisfying a key Druse demand. Outside the meeting hall, however, opinions were divided. Across the street, Bahira Haj Ali, 42, leaned out her window to watch the sheikh, a relative, departing. 'It's good we had the men to resist,' she said of the local Druse militias. 'You can't imagine the sounds we heard — shells, drones.' It was hard to trust government forces, she said, though, she added, she might feel different if men from Ashrafieh Sahnaya joined. As for Druse militias' weapons, Ms. Haj Ali said: 'This is our security. It shouldn't be given up.' In town, there was disagreement over how the violence had begun. Some Sunnis said that Druse militants had attacked government checkpoints after extremists attacked a nearby town, while some Druse said that Sunni extremists had struck first. Around the town square, broken glass and bullet casings littered the ground. Dozens of young men marched into the square after Friday prayers ended at a nearby mosque, waving the flag of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sunni former rebel group that took power in December. 'One, one, one,' they chanted. 'The Syrian people are one.' But more often, it was their sect, not their country, that they emphasized. 'These are the Sunni,' they chanted. 'The Prophet Muhammad is our eternal leader.'
New York Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Israel Launches Airstrikes Near Presidential Palace in Damascus
Israeli fighter jets struck near the presidential palace in Damascus, the Syrian capital, early Friday, in what Israel's prime minister and defense minister said was a message to the Syrian government after a wave of sectarian violence. In recent days, more than 100 people have died in clashes between Syrian pro-government forces and militants from the country's Druse minority. The Druse practice a secretive religion with its roots in Islam, and those living in Syria have close ties to the Druse community in Israel. Friday's strike is the second time since the violence erupted this week that Israel has intervened militarily. 'This is a clear message to the Syrian regime,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a joint statement about the strike. 'We will not allow a movement of forces from south of Damascus and any danger to the Druse community.' In a separate statement, the Israeli military said its warplanes had 'attacked the area near the palace of Ahmed Hussein al-Shara in Damascus,' referring to Syria's president. Mr. al-Shara, a former Al Qaeda affiliate whose rebel coalition toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December, now presents himself as a statesman, but Israeli leaders have expressed wariness. The strike drew no immediate comment from Syria's government. Images on social media showed plumes of smoke rising in the night sky in Damascus after Israel's action. It was not clear what had been hit or how much damage had been done. By Thursday night, Syrian government representatives had struck accords with Druse leaders in a bid to calm the violence, and leaders in the Druse-controlled Sweida region, previously reluctant to unite with government forces, had expressed openness to doing so. Israel has offered to protect the Druse in Syria if they come under attack amid the tumultuous transition of power in the country, and it has tried to cultivate relations with Syrian Druse communities. Many Syrian Druse have rejected what they consider potentially destructive foreign meddling. The Druse community in Israel, however, is pressing for Israel to intervene. Friday's strike in Damascus came after Druse protesters in Israel blocked highways on Thursday amid mounting demands from members of the community there, some of whom serve in the military, that Israel act forcefully in Syria. On Thursday, the Israeli military said in a statement that two injured Syrian Druse citizens had been evacuated to receive medical treatment in Israel. Israeli troops had earlier in the week evacuated several other Syrian Druse hurt in the violence. The Israeli military also said Thursday that its forces were deployed in the southern Syrian region and 'prepared to prevent hostile forces from entering the region and Druse villages.' Mr. Katz, Israel's defense minister, said on Thursday that Israel would 'respond with great severity' if attacks on the Druse did not stop, saying the Syrian leadership bore responsibility for preventing them. 'We are committed to defending the Druse,' he added. On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes on Syria and threatened to strike government forces there if clashes persisted between pro-government fighters and Druse militia members. The Israeli military said its aircraft had struck a group of 'operatives' whom Israel accused of having 'attacked Druse civilians' in the spreading violence around the outskirts of Damascus. The most recent outbreak of sectarian unrest in Syria began on Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria's Interior Ministry said he was not involved. Nevertheless, armed Sunni Muslim extremist groups began attacking areas with large Druse populations, including the town of Jaramana near Damascus. Druse militias responded in force, and the government sent security personnel to quell the unrest. On Wednesday, the clashes spread to another town on the southern outskirts of Damascus, and into Sweida, with fighting continuing until Thursday morning. Five prominent Druse leaders released a statement Thursday night saying that Interior Ministry personnel and judicial police 'drawn from the people' of Sweida 'must be activated,' indicating a willingness to join forces with the government. They also said government forces were being deployed to secure the road from Sweida to the capital. The government also agreed to send reinforcements to protect Jaramana, Druse leaders there said. The U.S. State Department on Thursday called on Syria's government to stop the sectarian violence and hold the perpetrators accountable. 'The recent violence and inflammatory rhetoric targeting members of the Druse community in Syria is reprehensible and unacceptable,' said a spokeswoman, Tammy Bruce. 'Sectarianism will only sink Syria and the region into chaos and more violence.' There are more than one million Druse across the Middle East, mostly in Syria and Lebanon, with some also in Jordan and Israel. Those in Druse communities, wherever they may be, generally tend to participate in national civic and political life and often serve in the local military, despite maintaining a distinct culture and religious practices.
New York Times
01-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Death Toll From a Wave of Sectarian Violence in Syria Passes 100
The death toll from this week's outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria has surpassed 100, a war monitoring group said on Thursday after the unrest spread to new areas. The violence erupted on Tuesday in the city of Jaramana after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a cleric from the Druse minority insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and Syria's Interior Ministry said that its initial findings showed that he was not the person in the clip. Nevertheless, armed Sunni Muslim extremist groups began attacking areas including Jaramana with large Druse populations on the outskirts of the capital, Damascus. Druse militias responded in force to protect their neighborhoods and the government sent in its own forces to quell the unrest. On Wednesday, the clashes spread to another town on the southern outskirts of the capital, Ashrafieh Sahnaya. Early on Thursday, violence spilled from the outskirts of Damascus to Sweida, a Druse-controlled region of southern Syria. The bloodshed has raised fears that a country where religious minorities had already felt deeply vulnerable since the overthrow of the Assad dictatorship in December will fracture further. This was the second major outbreak of sectarian violence since a rebel coalition toppled President Bashar al-Assad and seized power. That coalition was led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was once linked to Al Qaeda, and it included other Islamist armed groups with more extreme ideologies. Many of those groups have not been brought under the new government's control and Syria's new authorities have shown little capacity to rein them in. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said the death toll from three days of clashes rose to 101 by Thursday. The Observatory reported for the first time on Thursday that extremist militants had killed 35 Druse on the road that connects Sweida to Damascus, and five Druse fighters in a village in the Sweida region. Those killed in Ashrafieh Sahnaya on Wednesday included a former mayor from the area, Hassan Warwar, and his son, the Observatory said. The Observatory said 20 from the government's security forces have also been killed in this week's unrest and 10 from allied groups. The Druse, who practice a religion that is an offshoot of Islam, have well-organized militias, based in Sweida, that have been reluctant to integrate into the new government's military. Israel, which has a close relationship with Israeli Druse, also entered the fray on Wednesday, launching airstrikes against what it characterized as 'operatives' who had attacked Syrian Druse civilians. Syria's new Islamist leaders have struggled to absorb the complex web of armed groups operating across the country into a national military. Besides the Druse militias, there are armed factions that support the government, who Druse activists and militants interviewed this week said appeared to be involved in the clashes with the Druse. Abu Hassan, a Druse militia commander in Sweida who goes by a nom de guerre, said thousands of fighters had battled in several places on Wednesday between Sweida and Daraa, another southwestern city. He said Druse militants were fighting Bedouin militants allied with the government, among others. The governor of the area that includes Jaramana and Ashrafieh Sahnaya, Amr al-Sheikh, blamed 'outlawed groups' for starting the initial violence in a news conference on Wednesday, but did not identify the groups. Mr. al-Sheikh did not acknowledge the presence of pro-government armed factions, saying only that official government forces had deployed to protect the two towns. Other security officials, however, have privately acknowledged that the government is unable to control all armed groups that support it. 'We have the right to keep our weapons to protect ourselves from these random factions,' said Loubna Baset, a Druse activist in Sweida, who said attacks were continuing on Thursday in villages in the Sweida countryside including al-Sawara. The government 'is claiming that they are sending all these military reinforcements to protect us, but we don't trust them,' she added. Despite the sectarian battle lines, the government's general security forces include Druse and other minorities as well as fighters from the country's Sunni Muslim majority. Druse were among the general security forces killed this week. But despite promises of inclusivity from the government, Syrian minorities remain on edge, an anxiety that deepened after a March wave of sectarian killings hit Syria's coastal region, home of the country's Alawites, the minority group that the Assad family belongs to.
