Clashes between pro-government Sunni gunmen and armed Druze factions in the south of Damascus highlight escalating sectarian tensions in Syria. On 28 April, a voice note cursing the Prophet Mohammad, attributed to a Druze leadership figure, circulated on social media, triggering protests across cities and a spike in anti-Druze hate speech online. The same day, armed Sunni groups attacked Jaramana, a majority-Druze suburb to the south east of Damascus that is jointly controlled by a Druze faction and General Security, the security force that has operated across government-held Syria since the Assad regime’s fall late last year. Attackers launched mortars into the suburb, with subsequent clashes killing at least six Druze fighters and seven Sunni gunmen.

Although the clashes stopped after General Security created a buffer zone around the area, that did not end the violence. Late on 29 April, groups armed with machine guns and mortars launched an attack against Ashrafieh Sahnaya, another Druze-majority suburb that is also under the joint control of General Security and the same Druze faction.

The following day, as fighting persisted, Israel stepped in, launching drone strikes on government forces, reportedly as a “warning”; Israeli officials had said in February that they would act forcefully to protect the Druze, many of whom live in Syria and Israel. At some stage, the Syrian authorities also began to shift the finger of blame for the unrest, claiming that the Druze faction – not their Sunni attackers – was clashing with General Security. Amid claims and counter-claims, the unrest eventually appeared to die down in the evening of 30 April as Druze representatives and the government negotiated a truce. Even so, fresh Israeli air strikes hit areas near the presidential palace on the morning of 2 May, while the death toll since Monday has reportedly reached over 100. 

The outbreak of fighting demonstrates the continuing dangers of sudden sectarian flare-ups, and the need for Damascus to adopt a more front-footed security approach. The failure to prevent the Ashrafieh Sahnaya attack – despite the General Security working with Druze factions to stabilise Jaramana, just a day earlier – exposed the new government’s shortage of personnel and lack of control over a plethora of allied armed groups.

The clashes will likely further damage the trust that Syria’s minorities have in the new government. Confidence had already been shaken after renegade government-allied forces and armed civilians in early March killed hundreds of Alawite civilians accused of being loyal to the ousted Assad regime. The flare-up of violence and Israel’s intervention now complicate already strained relations between the Druze and Syria’s Sunni majority, and risk pushing the Druze, who had previously mostly rejected Tel Aviv’s assistance, closer to Israel. Meanwhile, the fighting makes it harder to convince the U.S. to lift sanctions, despite the huge harm they are causing to Syria’s ailing economy.