Israel’s military conducted airstrikes on Wednesday on the Defense Ministry and near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital, Damascus, the latest escalation of its bombing campaign in neighboring Syria.
Violent unrest has seized the south of Syria in recent days in Sweida, a strategically important province on the border with Jordan and near Israel, where government forces, Bedouin tribes and militias from the Druse minority have clashed over the past four days.
More than 200 people have been killed in the fighting, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group. It is the deadliest bout of unrest to hit this region of Syria in years.
The fighting broke out Sunday between armed Bedouin tribes and Druse militias that control large parts of Sweida. It quickly escalated, drawing in both Syrian government forces and neighboring Israel.
Israel, which has close relations with its own Druse minority, has pledged to protect the Syrian Druse. The Israeli defense minister threatened on Wednesday to intensify attacks on Syrian government forces unless they withdraw from Sweida. Most major Druse militia leaders have opposed Israeli military intervention.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced that it had reached a cease-fire in Sweida with several major Druse leaders. It remained unclear whether that cease-fire would hold or if some militias would continue to clash with government forces.
The violence has underscored the struggle of Syria’s new leaders to assert their authority over the entire country, after overthrowing the longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad in December.
Why did the fighting erupt?
The fighting began on Sunday after members of an armed Bedouin tribe attacked and robbed a Druse man along Sweida’s main highway, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
That incident prompted an exchange of attacks and kidnappings between the Druse militias that control Sweida province and armed Bedouin groups there, some of which are seen as pro-government.
As the unrest escalated, the Syrian government deployed military forces on Monday to quell the conflict, Syrian officials said. But given the deep-seated mistrust of the new government, many in the Druse militia groups thought that the government forces were coming to aid the Bedouins and to attack the Druse, according to Druse militia leaders.
In response, Druse militias mobilized to repel the government forces and battled with them, Druse militia leaders said.
New violence broke out on Wednesday in the city of Sweida, the provincial capital, according to Syrian authorities and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The Israeli military said it was continuing attacks on Syrian government forces, targeting tanks, military equipment and roads leading to Sweida over the past day to block access to the area. Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, threatened earlier on Wednesday to intensify Israeli strikes on government forces unless they withdrew from the region.
Who are the Druse militias?
The Druse, a religious minority, make up about 3 percent of Syria’s population. During the country’s civil war, which lasted nearly 14 years, the Druse formed several militias to defend themselves against the Assad government, as well as against some Islamist rebel groups who consider them heretics.
For years, those militias have effectively controlled Sweida, the Druse heartland in Syria and a strategically important province on the border with Jordan and near Israel.
After a Sunni Islamist rebel coalition toppled the Assad family’s rule of Syria, which had spanned five decades, the country’s new leadership began negotiating with Druse leaders, seeking to absorb their militias into the new government’s national army.
Government officials see the integration of Druse forces into the military as critical for securing their government’s authority over the entire country, including the south.
But Druse militia leaders have remained skeptical of Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Shara, and his pledge to protect the rights of the country’s diverse religious and ethnic minorities.
Mr. al-Shara and many in his cohort were part of an Islamist rebel group, dominated by members of Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and once linked to Al Qaeda.
Why is Israel involved?
Israel has two driving reasons for intervening in southern Syria.
First, Israeli leaders have sought to prevent Iran-backed militias or hostile Islamist militants from entrenching themselves in southern Syria near the Israeli border, particularly in Druse-controlled Sweida, ever since the collapse of the Assad regime in December.
Second, they want to assuage the concerns of Israel’s own Druse minority, some of whom support an Israeli intervention. Israeli officials have also intervened militarily to protect the Druse in Syria.
Israel has carried out waves of airstrikes against Syrian government troops in Sweida in recent days. The Israeli military said it had also reinforced its positions along the Syrian border on Wednesday after a number of Israeli civilians crossed the border fence into Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Israel’s Druse community against doing so, calling the situation “very serious.”
By taking actions to protect the Druse, Israel hopes to strengthen a potential ally against hostile groups near the Israeli border, particularly the part of the Golan Heights inside Syria, according to experts on Israeli-Syrian relations.
Many Druse leaders in Syria have said they do not want Israel to intervene on their behalf, opposing the notion of foreign intervention.
One notable exception is the Druse cleric Hikmat al-Hijri, who appealed on Wednesday for support from President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Mr. Hijri is a vocal critic of the new leadership in Damascus.
What does this mean for Syria’s new government?
One of the biggest challenges for Mr. al-Shara’s news government has been controlling waves of sectarian violence, which could easily spiral into a wider civil conflict again. The clashes this week were the third major surge of violence involving Syrian minorities since the Assad regime collapsed.
In early March, armed groups who had served in Mr. al-Assad’s security forces ambushed the new government’s forces on the Syrian coast, setting off days of sectarian violence that killed more than 1,600 people, mostly from the minority Alawite sect, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In May, more than 39 people, mostly from the Druse minority, were killed over two days in a wave of violence near Damascus.
Syrian officials have said that the latest round of fighting in Sweida underscores the need for the central government to control the province.
Patrick Kingsley contributed reporting.
Christina Goldbaum is the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The Times, leading the coverage of the region.
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