All over the place within the Syrian metropolis of Jaramana on Wednesday, there have been armed males, their actions staccato with stress.
There have been males in denims or the black dishevelled pants historically worn by the Druse sect, rifles slung throughout their chests; males of no explicit uniform blocking the roads into city; males with vests stuffed with ammunition motioning tersely to at least one one other. They have been too preoccupied even to smoke.
The rationale lay inside a Druse non secular corridor: seven velvet-draped coffins, surrounded by a whole bunch of sobbing ladies in white shawls. They held aloft the photographs of seven males killed when assailants believed to be Islamist extremists attacked Jaramana with gunfire and shelling on Tuesday morning.
Even because the funeral processions acquired underway, the boys guarding them have been receiving messages about spreading clashes and rising loss of life tolls in a largely Druse city close by.
Whereas a couple of vehicles bearing the brand of the Syrian safety forces circulated within the metropolis and group leaders mentioned authorities forces had shaped a cordon round Jaramana, many of the males with weapons — together with most of these killed — have been residents who had organized to defend themselves, locals mentioned.
“We’re not seeing something from the federal government,” mentioned Ghassan Azzam, who was standing within the crowd outdoors the cemetery. “We’re simply defending ourselves.”
The clashes in Jaramana and Ashrafieh Sahnaya, each south of Damascus, the capital, have been the newest surge in violence towards Syrian non secular minorities for the reason that half-century-old regime of Bashar al-Assad and his household collapsed in December.
The brand new authorities, dominated by Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority, has promised inclusivity for the nation’s minority teams and has at instances stepped up safety for them. However many minority Syrians say the federal government has squandered a lot of its credibility amid repeated assaults on minority areas, together with the massacres in March of civilians in Syria’s coastal area, the heartland of the Alawite minority, by extremist fighters affiliated with the insurgent coalition that seized energy.
“Both the federal government is popping a blind eye, or it doesn’t have the capability to regulate anybody,” mentioned Rabee Mounzer, a Druse group chief in Jaramana, after the funerals on Wednesday. “Both manner, the federal government is accountable.”
He, like many others, feared a repeat of the coastal killings.
This week’s violence erupted early Tuesday after an audio clip circulated on social media purporting to be of a Druse cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The cleric, who was later cleared by Syria’s Inside Ministry, denied involvement — however not earlier than incensed Muslims started threatening the Druse, who apply a secretive offshoot of Islam.
“Due to one voice message, a voice message we don’t even know from whom, all of Syria got here to assault,” Mr. Mounzer mentioned. “That is unbelievable. It reveals you ways persons are divided.”
Armed males on motorbikes opened hearth on a checkpoint run by authorities safety forces on the jap facet of city at 2 a.m. Tuesday, killing two Jaramana residents, mentioned Ahmed Dawoud, 52, who later joined the fray.
At 5:30 a.m. that very same day, after extra civilians from Jaramana arrived to defend the checkpoint, dozens of armed males shouting, “God is nice” and sporting Islamic patches attacked, based on Mr. Dawoud and one other resident, Mazen Ghazzar.
Seven Jaramana males have been killed, together with eight attackers, they mentioned. Once they searched the attackers’ our bodies, they mentioned, they discovered an identification card, dated September 2023, with an administrative stamp from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that led the rise up that captured Damascus in December. It was not clear whether or not the attacker was a part of the federal government’s army.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which evolved from a group as soon as affiliated with Al Qaeda, has been absorbed into the brand new authorities’s safety forces. Not all of its fighters have joined, and an array of other former rebels, some with extra brazenly extremist ideology, stay outdoors authorities management.
Even throughout Syria’s 14-year civil warfare, residents mentioned, there had by no means been sectarian violence in Jaramana, the place Druse stay alongside Christians and Muslims.
However Syria’s longstanding taboo towards discussing sectarian identification now appeared to be fading daily.
“We don’t know why they did this to us; we’ve all coexisted for many years,” mentioned Laureen al-Halabi, one of many a whole bunch of Druse ladies gathered within the non secular corridor to mourn on Wednesday.
In Jaramana, many appeared decided to work throughout sectarian traces to defend the city.
“It’s not about being a Druse or not,” mentioned Issam al-Mortada, a Christian, outdoors the cemetery, the place males waved colourful Druse striped silk flags and chanted slogans in help of Jaramana. “Weapons don’t distinguish between us.”
A Sunni Muslim girl was killed on Tuesday inside her house by a gunshot that residents mentioned got here from outdoors Jaramana.
On Wednesday, many residents mentioned they’d not slept from concern or had taken shelter with family members or pals. Most outlets and colleges have been closed. As evening fell, a curfew took impact.
Officers say the preliminary attackers had been religiously motivated fighters unaffiliated with the federal government. Group leaders mentioned authorities representatives had informed them the identical.
Authorities officers have been “very respectful and optimistic,” mentioned Majed Salloum, one other group chief. “However we would like motion.”
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