Latest news with #Sunnis
Memri
a day ago
- Politics
- Memri
Lebanese Druze Leader Wiam Wahhab in Fiery Interview: Israeli Strikes in Syria to Defend the Druze Are Justified; Sunnis Curse Us, Call Us Heretics, Want to Slaughter Us and Our Children
In a heated interview with Al-‑Jadeed TV (Lebanon) on July 18, 2025, former Lebanese Cabinet Minister and Druze leader Wiam Wahhab lashed out at his host after being challenged over his support for Israel's strikes in Syria, which he defended as necessary to protect the Druze. Wahhab said that the images of Druze Sheikh Shahin, whose moustache was shaved by force by Bedouin militant tribesmen, will not leave him and that this justifies Israeli bombings. He stated that all the Arabs are making peace with Israel, while he is criticized for supporting Israel's attack on Syria. Shouting, he accused Sunnis of cursing the Druze, branding them heretics, and threatening to slaughter them and their children. Raising his voice further, he lashed out at Sunnis with derogatory names, saying they should go to Palestine and that he would follow right behind them, adding that they were 'pushovers' who are 'all under Netanyahu's boot.'
Dubai Eye
2 days ago
- Politics
- Dubai Eye
Calm returns to Syria as fighters pull back
Residents reported calm in Syria's Sweida on Sunday after the government declared that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to days of fighting. With hundreds of people reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed has marked a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to carry out airstrikes last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call. On Sunday morning, residents reported no sound of gunfire in the city after the interior ministry announced late on Saturday that Bedouin tribal fighters had left. Reuters images showed interior ministry security forces deployed in an area near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. Kenan Azzam, a dentist, described the situation on Sunday morning as "a tense calm" but told Reuters residents were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. "The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded," he said by phone. Another Sweida resident, Raed Khazaal, said humanitarian aid was urgently needed in the city. "Houses are destroyed ... The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital", he said in a voice message to Reuters from inside Sweida. Tom Barrack, the U.S. envoy for Syria, said "brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government's authority and disrupt any semblance of order". "All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance. Syria stands at a critical juncture—peace and dialogue must prevail—and prevail now," he wrote on X. The Druze are a small but influential minority group present in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi'ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical. CHECKPOINTS The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus then sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze. Residents of the predominantly Druze city have described friends and neighbours being shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and the insignia on them. Sharaa, in a speech on Thursday, promised to protect the rights of Druze, accountability for violations, and also vowed to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people". He has blamed the violence on "outlaw groups". Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and also hit the defense ministry in Damascus last week. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarisation of a swathe of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida. He reiterated Israel's policy to protect the Druze. The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said that Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days. A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in both the western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered. The source said some tribal groups had already returned to Damascus and northern areas. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, has said clashes since last week around Sweida had killed at least 940 people. Reuters could not independently verify the toll.
NDTV
3 days ago
- Politics
- NDTV
"It's Ethnic Cleansing": Syria's Druze To NDTV As Violence Escalates
In Syria's southern province of Al-Suwayda, the Druze community is facing what its members have described as an "ethnic cleansing campaign" amidst a rapidly deteriorating security situation that has claimed the lives of hundreds over the past week. Reports of targeted killings, forced religious humiliations, and sectarian clashes are emerging from a region that has seen continual tensions following the fall of Bashar al-Assad. "This is not a conflict anymore, this is extermination," Majd Al-Shaer, a 21-year-old Druze man, told NDTV. "They are humiliating our elderly, killing our women and children. This is a campaign to wipe us out. An ethnic cleansing campaign is taking place against the Druze." In Al-Suwayda, a cycle of tit-for-tat detentions between Sunni and Druze civilians escalated quickly. It began with the beating and robbery of a Druze vegetable vendor by Sunni men, spiralling into violence across the region. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that more than 940 people had been killed in Suwayda province in the past week. The dead include 326 Druze fighters, 262 Druze civilians (165 of whom were summarily executed), 312 government security personnel, and 21 Sunni Bedouins - including three civilians allegedly executed by Druze gunmen. "It started when a group of Sunnis detained a Druze vegetable driver, beat him, and stole his car and money. Then a group of Druze detained a group of Sunnis, and vice versa. Then the Sunnis began to provoke the Druze by insulting the prisoners, which sparked the war, and the government and Sunnis from all over Syria began to attack the Druze," Al-Shaer told NDTV. Sectarian Fault Lines The Druze -- a religious and ethnic minority with distinct beliefs rooted in Islamic, Greek and other philosophical traditions -- are concentrated primarily in Suwayda and the mountainous Jabal al-Druze region. While the group maintained an uneasy relationship with the Syrian state under Assad, they had been largely spared from targeted violence during the country's civil war. That changed this month. Despite reports of a ceasefire agreement last night, brokered by the Syrian Government in Damascus, major clashes between Druze-majority militias and the Bedouin/tribal militias are continuing in and around Suwayda in Southern Syria. Forces from the Syrian Defense and Interior… — OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) July 19, 2025 Following the collapse of Assad's regime in December 2024 and the rise of interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa -- a former terrorist known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani -- Suwayda has become a flashpoint. Al-Sharaa's past leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a terror group, has heightened fears among Syria's minorities. The Druze, in particular, see him as a threat. "Al-Sharaa is seen as a terrorist by the Druze," Al-Shaer NDTV. "His government is now participating in attacks on us." Targeted Attacks Druze civilians have reported a series of deliberate acts intended to insult their identity. One common practice, according to multiple eyewitnesses and videos shared on social media, has involved the forced shaving of elderly Druze men's moustaches. "It's not just killing," Al-Shaer said. "They shave our moustaches to humiliate us. They record it on camera." Such acts, he said, are part of a campaign of degradation aimed at "erasing the Druze" from Syria. Videos circulating online also depict public executions. In one particular video, Druze men are being lined up on a street and then fired at using machine guns. Suwayda Military Council NDTV had reported back in March when armed Druze factions in Suwayda declared the formation of the Suwayda Military Council. The coalition, led by Tareq al-Shoufi, comprised various local self-defence units and sought to coordinate protection for civilians and prevent incursions by government forces or Islamist factions. The council says its objectives include the protection of public property, the restoration of regional stability, and the promotion of a secular Syrian state. In public statements, it has called for integration into a new national army based on democratic principles. "The situation during Assad's rule was bad economically, but these attacks had never happened before," Al-Shaer told NDTV. However, the council has not received universal support from the Druze community. Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, the spiritual leader of Syria's Druze, condemned the council as a separatist group. Israeli and US Involvement As reports of mass killings, executions, and sectarian abuses mounted, Israel launched airstrikes against Syrian government positions in Suwayda and Damascus. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cited the need to protect Druze civilians as justification. "We demand the full demilitarisation of southern Syria. We will not tolerate any threat to the Druze community in southern Syria." Israel's actions drew criticism from Damascus. Syrian President al-Sharaa, in a televised address on Saturday, denounced the Israeli strikes as interference. Yet just hours later, a US-brokered ceasefire was announced by Tom Barrack, Washington's envoy to Turkey and Syria. According to Mr Barrack, the ceasefire agreement was reached in coordination with Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. "We call upon Druze, Bedouins and Sunnis to put down their weapons and, together with other minorities, build a new and united Syrian identity," he said. Al-Sharaa confirmed the ceasefire in his own address, stating that the Syrian state remained committed to protecting minorities, though he appeared to shift blame for the violence onto Druze militias. In response to the violence, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called for an immediate end to the violence. "The US has remained heavily involved over the last three days with Israel, Jordan and authorities in Damascus on the horrifying & dangerous developments in southern Syria. The rape and slaughter of innocent people which has and is still occurring, must end," Mr Rubio said in a statement. "If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres. And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks. Furthermore the fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter must also stop immediately," he said. On Friday, Israeli officials confirmed they had allowed limited Syrian troop deployments into Suwayda for 48 hours under the terms of the ceasefire. The Syrian interior ministry claimed the area had been "cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters" by Saturday evening. Still, reports of mortar attacks and looting continued to emerge. The UN estimates that over 87,000 people have been displaced from Suwayda in recent days. For many within the Druze community, the events of the past week have confirmed long-standing fears of ethnic cleansing.
L'Orient-Le Jour
3 days ago
- Politics
- L'Orient-Le Jour
Sweida clashes: Concern in Lebanon, and new calls for calm
As the security situation deteriorated sharply this week in Syria's southern province of Sweida — where fighting between the Druze population on one side and Sunni tribes and government forces on the other has killed over 940 people — sporadic clashes in Lebanon have raised fears that the violence could spill across the border. Over the past few days, leaders across Lebanon have issued calls for calm to prevent sectarian clashes between Druze and Sunnis. The country's highest religious authorities — the Sunni Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdellatif Derian, and the Druze spiritual leader, Sheikh Aql Sami Abi al-Mona — spoke by phone Friday in a joint appeal for restraint. Appeals continued Saturday, coinciding with the start of a cease-fire in Syria. Tripoli MP Ashraf Rifi, a prominent Sunni political figure, told reporters that 'the relationship with the Druze is good,' adding that 'there is no risk of instability spilling into Lebanon thanks to the wisdom shown by the leadership of both communities.' 'Sunnis feel pride in the Syrian revolution's victory, but they take no pride in a conflict with the Druze community,' Rifi said. Asked about Tripoli, where some factions have expressed radical views on the Syrian conflict, Rifi emphasized that 'the dominant voice in the city is one of moderation and wisdom,' noting a history of generally positive relations between Sunnis and Druze, despite periods of tension. But not all were as optimistic. MP Wael Abou Faour, a close ally of Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, said he was 'concerned that the events in Sweida will negatively affect Lebanon.' He added that Joumblatt 'is making contacts both domestically and abroad to prevent any missteps or internal tensions, including road closures and sectarian incidents that have occurred in recent days.' Solidarity rallies with the Druze of Sweida were held Wednesday in the Bekaa Valley and other parts of Lebanon, while in Tripoli's al-Nour Square, dozens gathered in support of the Damascus regime and in protest of Israeli airstrikes. In the Bekaa village of Marj, tensions briefly flared when a group confronted a young man wearing traditional Druze garb. Abou Faour noted that Joumblatt had long cautioned the Druze of Sweida to remain within the Syrian state framework and to maintain dialogue with other national factions. 'Unfortunately,' he said, 'what he warned against has come to pass.' Another Druze figure, Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan, welcomed the cease-fire in a post on X. 'We salute the announcement of a cease-fire in Syria, especially in Sweida, among all factions of the brotherly Syrian people,' he wrote. 'Syria must remain united, as it has throughout history, and continue to serve as a compass for Arab positions.' Joumblatt's roadmap On Friday evening, Joumblatt, his son Taymour — the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party — and all current and former MPs and ministers in their parliamentary bloc convened at the residence of Sheikh Abi al-Mona. According to the Al-Anbaa news outlet, Joumblatt presented a detailed roadmap aimed at resolving the crisis in Sweida, which he intends to discuss with both the Syrian government and prominent Druze figures in Syria. The plan calls for an immediate cease-fire — achieved the next morning — and serious dialogue between the Syrian state and local stakeholders in Sweida. It also includes a condemnation of Israeli attacks on Syria and Lebanon, the creation of an investigative commission to probe the crimes and abuses committed in Sweida, an end to provocative campaigns within Lebanon, and a rejection of road closures. Joumblatt's roadmap also urges the Syrian government to take direct action with Bedouin communities in the Sweida area to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.
See - Sada Elbalad
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
U.S. Envoy Announces Syria-Israel Ceasefire Agreement Amid Regional Tensions
Nada Mustafa U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, announced that Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire following several days of escalating tensions, including Israeli airstrikes targeting Damascus and Syrian military sites, allegedly to 'protect the Druze.' In a statement posted on Platform X today (Saturday), Barrack said, 'The agreement has been welcomed by Turkey, Jordan, and other neighboring countries.' He also urged 'the Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to lay down their arms and cooperate with other minorities to build a new, unified Syrian identity, one that lives in peace and prosperity with its neighbors.' Neither Syria nor Israel has issued an official statement confirming the agreement. The ceasefire follows Israeli air raids carried out last Wednesday, which Israel claimed were intended to safeguard the Druze population. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Arts & Culture South Korean Actress Kang Seo-ha Dies at 31 after Cancer Battle News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" Sports Get to Know 2025 WWE Evolution Results News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Arts & Culture Hawass Foundation Launches 1st Course to Teach Ancient Egyptian Language
