During the night of Tuesday, April 29 to Wednesday, April 30, eleven people were killed during confessional clashes in Sahnaya, near Damascus, announced the official Syrian news agency Sana. These clashes broke out in the aftermath of violence in a neighboring Druze locality, which left 17 people dead.
According to a source from the Ministry of Health cited by the Agency, in addition to the eleven people killed, others were injured by the shots of “Groups outside the law, which have targeted civilians and security forces in the Sahnaya region”.
Sahnaya is located some 15 kilometers southwest of the capital, and sees forces affiliated with the authorities to local Druze fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
On Monday, deadly clashes in the neighboring locality with a Druze of Jaramana, around Damascus, had left 17 dead, according to a new OSDH assessment: eight Druze fighters and nine members of the armed groups who stormed the locality.
An agreement had been sealed to put an end to the clashes
In the evening, an agreement had been sealed between representatives of the Syrian government and the Druze officials of Jaramana, to put an end to the clashes.
These violence woke up the specter of denominational clashes, after massacres which targeted, in March, the Alaouite minority from which the fallen president Bashar al-Assad, overthrown in December, came by the Islamist coalition in power.
The attack on Jaramana was led by groups affiliated to power after the broadcast on the social networks of an audio message attributed to a Druze and judged blasphemous with regard to the Prophet Muhammad.
The France-Presse agency could not verify the authenticity of the message and the spiritual leaders of the Druze minority condemned any attack on the Prophet.