Sectarian violence flared up again in Syria last week in Druze-majority areas in the countryside around Damascus. It then began to spread to the Suwayda Governorate, the main Druze stronghold in southern Syria, before Israel intervened, launching strikes near the Presidential Palace in Damascus.
Israel claimed these were warning shots, signalling its readiness to protect the Druze.
The violence began in Sahnaya on the outskirts of Damascus after news circulated of an audio recording allegedly of a Druze person insulting the Prophet Mohamed. On 28 April, gangs carrying light and medium weapons – referred to by Syrian government as “unruly factions” – stormed the town, precipitating clashes.
The Druze person to whom the recording was attributed denied any connection to it, and the Ministry of Interior subsequently confirmed that the voice in the recording did not belong to him. This led to speculations that the recording was fabricated with the intention to incite sectarian riots.
The clashes continued over the next two days in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, Sahnaya, and Jaramana, resulting in dozens of dead and wounded, including at least 11 unarmed civilians. Most of the casualties were members of the security forces, fighters from the “unruly factions,” and local Druze fighters.
Druze militants who rushed from Suwayda to Sahnaya to help defend the local population were killed by government forces and allied factions before they could reach the town.
On Wednesday evening, the security forces swept into the area to restore calm. They arrested dozens of gunmen and then released around 20 of them after concluding they had not been involved in the clashes. A truce was reached with local Druze leaders, allowing government forces to enter the towns, establish control, and conduct investigations without obstruction.
Weapons held by local youths were turned over to the authorities. The Ministry of Defence established a permanent military post in the village of Al-Surah to control and maintain security in the neighbouring Suwayda Governorate.
The Interior Ministry also released a statement saying that Israeli drones had attacked government troop positions on the outskirts of Sahnaya during the clashes, killing several soldiers. On 2 May, Israel announced that it had carried out an airstrike near the Syrian Presidential Palace in Damascus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister later issued a joint statement warning that Israel would not permit the Syrian government to deploy forces in southern Syria or to threaten the Druze population.
Later that evening, Israel launched a wave of strikes targeting Syrian military sites and anti-aircraft systems in the vicinities of Damascus, Hama in central Syria, Latakia on the coast, and Daraa in the south. The Israeli Army also announced that it had dispatched a helicopter to Suwayda to deliver aid and military equipment to Druze residents there.
Syria condemned the Israeli attacks and called on the Arab countries and the international community to pressure Israel to cease its repeated aggressions.
“Syria will not compromise on its sovereignty and security and will continue to defend the rights of its people by all available means,” the office of the president said in a statement. It also urged all the Syrian factions to commit to dialogue towards a comprehensive “understanding” that would set the country back on the path of reconstruction and recovery.
Israel’s near daily attacks on Syria had ceased for about a month following an agreement between Ankara and Washington, in which the latter agreed to let Turkey establish military bases in Homs in central Syria and to curtail Israeli interference in Syrian affairs.
Netanyahu reportedly confided his disappointment in US President Donald Trump for restraining Isreal’s hegemonic ambitions in Syria while catering to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans to expand Turkish influence.
The Syrian authorities had reached several previous agreements with Druze notables in Suwayda allowing government forces to carry out security tasks in the governorate accompanied by local Druze from the local police.
However, these agreements often collapsed after violent incidents involving attacks on government forces attempting to arrest wanted individuals. The agreement reached last Wednesday between Druze leaders and the government – as represented by the governors of Rural Damascus, Suwayda, and Quneitra – stated that only local Druze police would have “judicial policing authority” in Druze areas.
The purpose is to avert further sectarian clashes when executing warrants, carrying out investigations, or other such tasks.
The Druze leaders who met with the authorities strongly rejected all attempts to partition Syria or foster secessionist schemes. Their statements are a response to the prominent Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, who recently held that the Druze in Syria were being targeted “systematically” and called for international intervention to protect them.
His statements closely align with the proposals for “international protection” that Israel has been pushing. Other Druze leaders have firmly denounced Israeli schemes and called for continued dialogue with Damascus.
The Druze make up around three per cent of the Syrian population, with most concentrated in Suwayda while smaller communities reside in towns and cities in Sahnaya and Jaramana in the Damascus countryside.
The other two main spiritual leaders apart from Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, are Sheikh Yusuf Al-Jarbou and Sheikh Hamoud Al-Hanawi. During the Syrian Civil War, these leaders had succeeded in shielding the Druze from the worst ravages of the conflict by striking agreements with the former Al-Assad regime, allowing local forces to maintain security and administer local affairs in exchange for exemption from compulsory military service.
In August 2023, demonstrations erupted in Suwayda to protest against deteriorating living conditions and the Al-Assad regime’s failure to uphold its previous agreements with the local population. The protest, which continued until Al-Assad’s overthrow in December, gave rise to new and younger local civilian leaderships alongside the three main spiritual leaders.
Sheikh Hanawi had long been seen as sympathetic with the Syrian Revolution without openly clashing with the regime, while Al-Jarbou and Al-Hijri only voiced pro-revolutionary stances once the popular uprising began in Suwayda.
Syria President Ahmad Al-Sharaa has attempted to allay Druze concerns, including by meeting with Sheikh Hijri around the time he received the Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in December. Jumblatt returned to Syria recently in an effort to ease tensions between the Syrian Druze and the Syrian government, as well as to counter Israel’s divisive ploys in Syria.
Many Syrian Druze are influenced by Lebanese Druze currents opposed to Israel and its divide-and-conquer strategies in the region.
If many Druze follow Al-Hijri and are influenced by his call for international protection, civilian Druze leaders insist on the separation between religious authority and political decision-making. They also argue that al-Hijri represents only a part of the spiritual leadership and has no right to monopolise political decisions.
The Druze remain wary of the Islamist orientation of most members of the Syrian Transitional Government. Many continue to harbour doubts about the genuineness of the government’s commitment to equal rights for non-Sunni Syrians. They also question its ability to contain the hardline Islamist militia factions, a concern that was once again substantiated by the events that erupted on 28 April.
As long as this remains the case, Syria’s civil peace will remain vulnerable to recurrent outbreaks of sectarian strife.
Meanwhile, Israel spares no opportunity to feed doubts and to stoke alarm about the Syrian government’s ability to maintain security in a cynical bid to play the minority card to further its latest territorial acquisition projects in southern Syria.
The Syrian Druze now find themselves at a crossroads: either to hold fast to the Arabist Druze legacy laid down by Sultan Pasha Al-Atrash over a century ago or to fall into the trap of Israeli manipulation, becoming a stepping stone in Israel’s hegemonic designs.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 8 May, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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