Sixteen civilians and security personnel have been killed in attacks by "outlaw groups" in southern Syria, authorities said.
Damascus countryside police chief Hussam al-Tahan said on Wednesday that armed groups attacked security posts on the outskirts of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a mainly Druze town 12 kilometres from the centre of Damascus.
He said 11 security personnel were among those killed.
The violence, according to the Interior Ministry, was sparked by the circulation of a voice recording deemed offensive to Prophet Muhammad, which triggered sectarian tension and demands for revenge on social media.
Tahan said the escalation followed unrest in nearby Jaramana, also a Druze area where a fragile ceasefire agreement had been brokered in the last two days with local community leaders.
The agreement included a halt to gunfire and the return of the bodies of those killed in recent clashes.
Authorities began implementing the terms immediately, he said.
“However, outlaw groups infiltrated farmland in Ashrafieh Sahnaya on Tuesday night and opened fire on both civilians and security personnel, causing more casualties,” he added.
Israeli meddling
Prominent Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt called for a transparent investigation into the recent deadly clashes in Jaramana and Ashrafieh Sahnaya.
“We are at the beginning of a new phase,” he said Wednesday after an emergency meeting of the Druze Religious Council in Beirut. “Either we choose to live in a unified Syria, or we fall into the Israeli project that seeks to displace and use the Druze.”
Jumblatt warned of efforts by followers of Israeli-backed Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif to incite conflict. “They want to drag the Druze of Lebanon and Syria into fighting all Muslims,” he said, urging restraint and national unity.
“I’m willing to take any step for mediation, as I did before with the Druze in Idlib,” he said. “But we need a clear plan, and those internally calling for Israeli intervention must be silenced.”
Jumblatt voiced a readiness to again visit Damascus to help define a framework for addressing the concerns of Syria’s Druze, whom he described as “an integral part of the Syrian people”.
At the same time, Jumblatt firmly condemned the insult to Islamic beliefs that fuelled the violence.
“We reject and denounce any offence to the Prophet Muhammad or Islam,” he said.
“We call for calm and dialogue and urge the Syrian authorities to carry out a transparent investigation into what happened in Jaramana and Ashrafieh Sahnaya.”
He also urged the formation of a mediation committee to engage all parties in resolving the broader crisis.
Earlier, Syrian authorities launched a sweeping security operation in Ashrafieh Sahnaya to find “armed outlaw gangs” responsible for the attacks.
Tahan said later that government forces concluded the operation and were deployed near Damascus “to guarantee the restoration of security and stability”, according to the Syrian news agency, SANA.
