Gunmen Attack Druze Group in Damascus Suburb, at Least 18 Killed

Audio recording insulting Prophet Muhammed fueling anti-Druze sentiment

Violent sectarian gunbattles have erupted in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, when Sunni gunmen from the nearby Maliha suburb attacked Druze groups in the area. At least 18 people have been confirmed killed, including seven Druze fighters. Two security force members were killed in the conflict, and at least 15 people were wounded.

There was fighting in Jaramana previously in early March, when Druze fighters clashed with security forces at the checkpoint. This is a much larger incident though, and seems to be beyond the simple fighting with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) fighters at a checkpoint.

This appears to be a specifically sectarian conflict, and started overnight when an audio recording began making the rounds insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammed. The audio was claimed to be from a Druze figure from Syria’s Suwayda Governorate.

The Syrian Interior Ministry says they’re investigating the recording, and that it is as yet unproven that the audio recording is from who it was attributed to. Druze leaders in Suwayda suggested it was an “incitement” effort, potentially even a foreign one, to try to fuel tensions between the Druze and the majority Sunni population in Syria.

The Druze are an estimated 3%-4% of the population of Syria, overwhelmingly centered around Suwayda, which was a semi-independent Druze area during the French Mandate. Jaramana has a substantial Druze population as well, and the suburb is mostly split between Druze and Christians.

Jaramana officials have reported making a deal with the HTS government to investigate and end the incitement incident.

Early on the Druze were accused of having separatist ambitions after the ouster of the Assad government, though their leaders have denied it. Israel has pushed the narrative of the Druze being under threat from the Islamist HTS, and has made protecting them the cause célèbre for intervening in Syria, though Israel’s occupation is almost entirely in Quneitra and Daraa Governorates, not Suwayda.

Though the HTS has pledged to support unity, sectarian tensions have been increasingly common in parts of Syria, most notably in the northeast where massacres against the Alawite minority have taken place.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.