Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country\u2019s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel.<\/p>\n
Convoys of government forces began withdrawing from the city of Sweida, but it was not immediately clear if the agreement, announced by Syria’s Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader, would hold. A previous ceasefire announced Tuesday quickly fell apart, and a prominent Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, disavowed the new agreement.<\/p>\n
Israeli strikes continued after the ceasefire announcement, reported The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
Rare Israeli airstrikes in the heart of Damascus<\/p>\n
The announcement came after Israel launched rare airstrikes in the heart of Damascus, an escalation in a campaign that it said was intended to defend the Druze and push militants away from its border. The Druze form a substantial community in Israel as well as in Syria and are seen in Israel as a loyal minority, often serving in the military.<\/p>\n
The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida.<\/p>\n
The violence appeared to be the most serious threat yet to efforts by Syria\u2019s new rulers to consolidate control of the country after an offensive by opposition factions ousted longtime despotic leader Bashar Assad in December, ending a nearly 14-year civil war.<\/p>\n
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, in footage on state television early Thursday, called the Druze an integral part of Syria and denounced Israel’s actions as sowing division.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe affirm that protecting your rights and freedoms is among our top priorities,\u201d he said, specifically addressing Druze people in Syria. “We reject any attempt \u2014 foreign or domestic \u2014 to sow division within our ranks. We are all partners in this land, and we will not allow any group to distort the beautiful image that Syria and its diversity represent.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Syrian government officials and leaders in the Druze religious minority announced a renewed ceasefire Wednesday after days of clashes that have threatened to unravel the country\u2019s postwar political transition and drawn military intervention by powerful neighbor Israel. Convoys of government forces began withdrawing from the city of Sweida, but it was not immediately clear if …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-news-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51543,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51541\/revisions\/51543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}