Syrian forces deploy in Druze-majority areas

DAMASCUS

Syrian public security forces have deployed in the town of Ashrafieh Sahnaya in the southwestern part of Damascus, state news agency SANA said on May 3.

The deployment aims to maintain security and reinforce stability in the area, the agency said, adding that life has returned to normal in nearby Jaramana.

The move follows security tensions last week in both Ashrafieh Sahnaya and Jaramana, areas with significant Druze populations.

An unrest was reportedly sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a member of the Druze community, which allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad, triggering protests and violence that left civilian and security personnel casualties.

The Syrian government blamed the violence on armed outlaw groups attempting to incite chaos and sectarian strife.

In response, security forces worked closely with local Druze leaders and dignitaries to restore calm.

Last week, the Israeli army carried out an airstrike near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital.

Israeli officials claimed the strike was a message against the presence of armed groups near southern Damascus and any potential threat to the Druze community.

The attack came hours after prominent Druze community leaders released a video reaffirming their "commitment to Syria’s unity and rejecting any form of division or separatism."

Observers said the strike seeks to exploit sectarian divisions, especially within the Druze community, to justify intervention and push for fragmentation.

The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.

Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.