Sectarian fighting between the Druze and Bedouins in southern Syria has killed over 50 people, with Israel intervening with airstrikes to prevent government soldiers from gathering in the south.
Syria once again risks descending back into sectarian strife, this time in the majority Druze south. According to the Russian open-source intelligence channel Rybar, the conflict was sparked when pro-government Bedouin militants beat up a Druze youth after stopping him on the Damascus-Suwayda highway. A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks escalated into an all-out battle between the two, involving armored vehicles and shelling.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated that 50 were killed, including two children, and over 150 were wounded in the fighting. The death toll is likely to increase.
Damascus announced it was intervening to keep the peace on Sunday night, saying it would act “quickly and decisively” to quell the violence. This was despite a months-old warning from Jerusalem that any gathering of military forces in Syria’s south would be met with force. Israel followed through with the threat with airstrikes against government tanks.
“The presence of these assets in southern Syria may pose a threat to the State of Israel. The IDF will not allow the establishment of a military threat in southern Syria and will operate against it,” a statement from the Israel Defense Forces read, adding, “The IDF continues to monitor the developments in the area.”
Hours after the strike, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were meant to present “a message and a clear warning to the Syrian regime. We will not allow harm to the Druze in Syria.”
“Israel will not stand idly by,” he added.
The Druze have a significant community in Israel, 150,000 out of 1 million globally, noted for their strong and close relationship with the Jewish state. Over half of the world’s Druze live in Syria, concentrated in the south.
Rumors had swirled that Israel would create a Druze buffer state in the south of Syria after it invaded in the aftermath of the collapse of President Bashar Assad’s government in December.
Reports of further Israeli airstrikes were released in the early morning on Tuesday local time.
Damascus attempted to assure the Druze of their safety, with the Syrian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Hassan Abdel-Ghani, releasing a video showing himself in military fatigues and assuring the populace that the intervention was to ensure their safety.
The display is likely to be seen as less than assuring, as Abdel-Ghani was directly implicated in the mass slaughter of Alawite civilians in March, the last major sectarian breakdown along the coast. A detailed Reuters investigation found that he reacted with apparent glee when informed of the murder of Alawite civilians, replying, “May God reward you.”
Though presenting itself as neutral, reports suggested that some government forces were fighting alongside the Bedouins against the Druze. Abdel-Ghani said several troops were injured in alleged attacks on military points by “outlawed groups.”
The Druze appear to have inflicted significant casualties, with a photo published on social media of a Druze fighter posing over nearly a dozen corpses dressed in military fatigues.
U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Najat Rochdi expressed “deep concern” over the violence and urged the government and local groups to “take immediate steps to protect civilians, restore calm, and prevent incitement.”
She added that the outburst of violence showed the “urgent need for genuine inclusion, trust-building, and meaningful dialogue to advance a credible and inclusive political transition in Syria.”
The fighting highlights the failure of Damascus to integrate the various anti-Assad militias into a centralized military. It also highlights the tremulous control the government holds over most of the country, with crime and sectarian violence escalating in many areas after Assad’s collapse.
Though nominally ruling the whole country, the Druze areas of the south represent the area where President Ahmed al Shara has his weakest hold on power, with militias holding effective control.
Damascus sought to portray the violence as showing the need for centralization and full government control over the south.
US AND EU OFFER OPPOSING STATEMENTS ON ALAWITE AND CHRISTIAN POGROMS IN SYRIA
“The absence of state institutions, particularly military and security ones, is a primary reason for the ongoing tensions,” the interior minister, Anas Khattab, wrote on social media. “There is no solution to this except by imposing security and activating the role of institutions to ensure civil peace and the return of life to its normal state in all its details.”
Though tensions have persisted between Damascus and the Druze, the fighting represents the first time Suwayda itself has been consumed by sectarian fighting. The Druze chose to join the rebellion in the final days of the Assad regime, taking over the south bloodlessly. Their defection was viewed as the final nail in the coffin of the former government.