Leave the “quiet” druze
The Israeli army “will increase the intensity of its responses against the regime if the message is not understood,” said Israel Katz, demanding Syrian power that he “leaves the Druze of Soueida.
Highlighting his threats, the Israeli army led several strikes on Wednesday in Damascus on Wednesday. She notably struck the entry of the headquarters of the Syrian army, in the heart of the capital, and announced that she had targeted a “military target” in the presidential palace area.
The Syrian Ministry of Health announced that these strikes had killed one and 18 injured.
The Israeli army has also announced to strengthen its troops on the Syrian border and says it has identified “dozens of suspects” who were trying to cross the border from Syria.
Dozens of druzes crossed the border in both directions on Wednesday, under the tear gas of Israeli forces, an AFP correspondent reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the Israeli Druze not to cross the border.
The American emissary in Syria, Tom Barrack, called “all the parts” to “backtrack”. The European Union called for “respect” for Syrian sovereignty, after the strikes of Israel.
“Save Soueida”
In Soueida, where the authorities proclaimed Tuesday a ceasefire that was not respected, two AFP correspondents heard intermittent shooting on Wednesday and one of them saw smoke rising from several districts.
The Sana agency has announced that an Israeli shot carried out with drones had targeted the city, for the second consecutive day.
“I am in the heart of the city of Soueida, next to the governorate building (…) I do not think of going out and in any case there is no possibility of fleeing,” a resident joined by phone told AFP.
“If they arrive here, I died. Summary executions take place in the streets, “added this man who has not revealed his identity.
One of AFP’s correspondents saw around thirty bodies on Wednesday morning on the ground, some of members of the government forces and others of in civilian fighters, without being able to identify their belonging.
Another has seen government forces shooting.
The Ministry of Defense said that “outlaws groups had started to attack army and internal security forces in the city” and that the army continued to “respond” to these shots.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), more than 300 people have been killed since the start of the fighting on Sunday between Druzes and Bedouin tribes, which caused government forces alongside them.
Most killed are fighters from both sides as well as 28 Druzes civilians, including “21 summarily executed” by government forces, according to the NGO.
On Wednesday, one of the most influential Druzes religious leaders, Cheikh Hikmat al-Hejri, launched an appeal to the American president Donald Trump, to Benjamin Netanyahu “and to all those who have an influence in the world”.
“Save Soueida,” he said, adding, “Our people are exterminated and killed with coolness”.
The province of Soueida houses the most important Druze community in the country, an esoteric minority from Islam which had some 700,000 members in Syria before the civil war, and is also located in Lebanon and Israel.
These violence illustrates the challenges faced by the interim power of Ahmad al-Chareh since he overthrew, with a coalition of Sunni rebel groups, President Bashar al-Assad in December, in a country bruised by almost 14 years of civil war.
