Instability has plagued Syria in the past two weeks after fighting broke out in two of Damascus’s suburbs and a southern governorate, drawing in government forces and non-state armed factions.Using the unrest as a pretext, Israel also launched attacks on several locations in Syria.
The fighting and the Israeli attacks add to the difficulties faced by Syria’s new government – which only came to power after the fall of longtime dictator Bashar al-Assad – as it attempts to rebuild Syria after nearly 14 years of war.
The violence of that war has not fully subsided. Instead, the recent fighting has taken on a sectarian character, though locals also told Al Jazeera that some actors were motivated by power as they try to carve out spheres of influence in the new Syria.
Violence
The recent clashes began on April 28 in the town of Jaramana, on the outskirts of Damascus, before spreading to nearby Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and the southern governorate of Sweida, where many of the country’s Druze population live. Advertisement
All of the areas have significant Druze populations, and the violence began after attackers were incensed by a blasphemous audio recording criticising the Prophet Muhammad, attributed to a religious leader from the minority group.
The religious leader denied the recording was in his voice, and an investigation by Syria’s Ministry of the Interior has concurred. But it mattered little, as fighting between local armed Druze groups and outsiders began.
The violence was followed by several Israeli attacks, including one near Syria’s presidential palace in Damascus. Syria’s government called it a “dangerous escalation”.
Israel’s military has struck Syria hundreds of times …