{"id":268764,"date":"2025-07-17T07:48:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268764\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T07:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T07:48:10","slug":"syrian-president-condemns-israels-attacks-on-damascus-and-vows-to-protect-druze-community-syria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/268764\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian president condemns Israel\u2019s attacks on Damascus and vows to protect Druze community | Syria"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syria\u2019s interim president has condemned Israel<\/a> for \u201cwide-scale targeting of civilian and government facilities\u201d after the Israeli military struck Damascus on Wednesday as it sought to intervene in clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s strikes would have pushed \u201cmatters to a large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab, and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate\u201d, Ahmed al-Sharaa said in his first televised statement since the attacks.<\/p>\n

Sharaa went on to say protecting Druze citizens and their rights is \u201cour priority\u201d after clashes in the southern city of Sweida left more than 350 people dead according to a war monitor.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s airstrikes on Wednesday blew up part of Syria\u2019s defence ministry<\/a> and hit near the presidential palace. A spokesperson for the Israeli military said the strike on the defence ministry had been a message to the Syrian president \u201cregarding the events in Sweida\u201d. The Israeli military struck Syrian tanks on Monday<\/a> and has continued to conduct dozens of drone strikes on troops, killing some soldiers.<\/p>\n

The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on X<\/a> that an agreement had been reached to restore calm in the area and urged \u201call parties to deliver on the commitments they have made\u201d, without elaborating on the nature of the agreement.<\/p>\n

Rubio blamed \u201chistoric longtime rivalries\u201d for the clashes in Sweida. \u201cIt led to an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding, it looks like, between the Israeli side and the Syrian side,\u201d Rubio told reporters in the White House.<\/p>\n

\"IsraelIsrael launches strikes on Damascus as sectarian violence flares in southern Syria \u2013\u00a0video<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Syrian government and one of the three spiritual leaders of the Syrian Druze community announced a ceasefire. It was unclear if the truce would hold, however, as another spiritual leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, vowed to keep fighting, calling the government a collection of \u201carmed gangs\u201d.<\/p>\n

Syria said its army had begun to withdraw from Sweida, after the US call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city. The Syrian government statement did not mention any withdrawal of other government security forces, which had deployed to the city on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a previous truce agreed with Druze community leaders after days of deadly fighting with local Bedouin tribes.<\/p>\n

Sharaa said in his televised address that those responsible for violence against Druze people would be held accountable as the Druze \u201care under the protection and responsibility of the state\u201d. He added that \u201cresponsibility\u201d for security in Sweida would be handed over to elders and local factions.<\/p>\n

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the 350 killed in Sweida province violence included government forces, local fighters and 27 Druze civilians killed in \u201csummary executions\u201d.<\/p>\n

Diplomats said the UN security council would meet on Thursday to address the Syrian conflict.<\/p>\n

The clashes this week pitting mostly Sunni government forces against Druze fighters have prompted fears of a wider sectarian conflict. The violence is the most serious challenge to Damascus\u2019s rule since the coastal massacres and has threatened to further push away everyday Druze from the state.<\/p>\n

The Syrian army entered Sweida on Sunday in an attempt to restore calm between Druze fighters and Arab Bedouin tribes. Some Druze militias have vowed to prevent Syrian government forces entering Sweida and have attacked them, leading to escalating clashes.<\/p>\n

As government forces entered Sweida, accounts of human rights abuses began to emerge.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s attacks on Wednesday marked a significant escalation against Sharaa\u2019s Islamist-led administration. They came despite his warming ties with the US and his administration\u2019s evolving security contacts with Israel.<\/p>\n

After calls in Israel to help Druze in Syria, scores of Israeli Druze broke through the border fence on Wednesday, linking up with Druze on the Syrian side, a Reuters witness said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said the Israeli military was working to help the Druze and urged Israeli Druze citizens not to cross the border. The Israeli military said it was working to safely return civilians who had crossed.<\/p>\n

With reporting from Reuters and Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syria\u2019s interim president has condemned Israel for \u201cwide-scale targeting of civilian and government facilities\u201d after the Israeli military…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268765,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-268764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114867477156211792","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}