Syria discovers a new desolation landscape. The province of Soueida, in the south of the country, has been the theater since Sunday of community clashes, between the Sunni tribes and the fighters of Druzes, with tense relations for decades.
In the objective of restoring order, the new Syrian government, which overthrew Bashar al And this before acting his withdrawal this Wednesday under the pressure of Israeli bombardment made in Damascus, officially in support of this community.
The interim president Ahmad Al-Charaa, former jihadist commander of the Hayat Tahrir Al-Cham group, transferred again the maintenance of security to the druzador.
At least 594 people have died in these quadripartite clashes since Sunday. Including 83 civilians “victims of” summary executions “according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH). Government troops and allied groups, including the Beduine tribes, are accused of abuse.
David Rigoulet -rezResearcher at the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) and specialist in the Middle East, decipher by BFMTV.com the Syrian situation.
How does Israel justify your bombings in Damascus?
“In the first place, Israel considers that it is a moral responsibility in the protection of the druzator, an Arab minority of a completely unique confessional obedience. The approximately 150,000 Druzes living in Israel are linked by a” Pact of Blood “with the Hebrew State that feels a duty of protection, also claimed by the Coreligrions of Cheikhs Cheikhs.
But that does not prevent Israeli intervention beyond the variable Druse alone, which exists a strategic calendar. Israel demands that southern Syria, near the goal plateau under Israeli supervision, be “demilitarized”, with the absence of heavy weapons of government forces.
Because the Hebrew State has two concerns: the risk of an Islamo-Djihadist presence, associated with the doubt of the initial DNA of the new governance in Damascus, and the possibility of the reconstruction of a pro-Iraní axis that would happen through Iraq in southern Syria. In any case, they have the idea of constituting a kind of “strategic glacis” in southern Syria, whose sovereignty is mechanically affected. “
Who are the drusos?
“Druse is a group with a particular religious confession. It is an esoteric branch of Ismaelism, as a result of Chiism. They are considered by other Muslims, especially Sunnites, as heretics. There are one million scattered drzes between Israel, Lebanon and Syria, and a little in Jordan.
The new Syrian leader wants to distance himself from his jihadist past and show his desire to include all the communities present in Syria. However, these abuses committed against religious minorities do not discredit it?
“This is the main problem of its positioning. We found this dilemma with what happened with the Alauitas, in mid -March, then with the duses, at the end of April. The Damascus government had invited all the armed groups to” disarms. “And as of January, the” fusion of dissolution disc “of the new national groups had begun. In the country.
According to the elements of the language of the Syrian Interior Ministry, if it degenerated in the province of Soueida, it is precisely because they had accepted that the Druzes retain their weapons. This is what justified in his eyes the sending of tanks.
However, minorities are of a different opinion. They consider that only the conservation of their weapons is a guarantee of security, if not of survival, with respect to the doubts that remain in the real intentions of the new authorities. It is suspected that the latter observe the abuses of certain groups that have preserved their Islamist DNA, even jihadist, and that revolve around the new governance. When they did not formally integrated into said new Syrian army.
Obviously, President Ahmed al-Charaa denies it. He also promised to punish the authors of these abuses. But there are no doubts, especially because certain minorities, such as druses, are sometimes accused of half words, even if they defend themselves, to be supporters of the old regime.
These violence against minorities threaten recent relations between Damascus and Westerners?
“The United States has played a key role in the mediation that led to the fire and delayed the situation. Its Secretary of State Marco Rubio Rubio had immediately expressed his” living concern “by openly calling Israel to start a dialogue with Damascus.
This harmful situation could mortgage the bet made by President Donald Trump of a complete and total lifting of the sanctions, and not progressive and conditional as the Europeans had initiated. The US President had announced this spectacular decision on May 16 during a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Charra in Riad to give “a chance” to Syria after Bachar.
The presidential decree became effective on July 1 with more than uncertain in view of the evolution of the latest events. “
The fire has been completed. Does this discard the risk of a new conflagration?
“For the immediate future, but the situation remains very unstable and volatile. The situation is obviously very tense. The Damascus government accepted, on July 17, after the establishment of a high fire, a withdrawal of government forces with its heavy weapons of the Soueta region, as well as the transfer to crazy militias of the responsibility of maintaining security, in reality, actually at an express request from Israel.
As President Al-Charaa said, the objective was to avoid direct confrontation with the Hebrew State that hit Damascus, in particular the headquarters of the Syrian Defense Ministry, as well as an objective in the area of the presidential palace. And threatened to win impulse. President Ahmed al-Charaa really understood that he had no choice, because he knows he is not able to face Tsahal militarily. “
Source: BFM TV
