Violent clashes driven by sectarian strife erupted on the outskirts of Damascus, resulting in the deaths of at least nine individuals, according to Syrian officials and an independent conflict monitoring organization.
The unrest began late Monday into Tuesday in Jaramana, a Damascus suburb home to a substantial Druse minority community. The violence followed the circulation of an audio recording on social media in which a man allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. This recording was attributed to a Druse cleric.
Both the cleric implicated and Druse religious leaders in Jaramana have denied the allegations. The Syrian Interior Ministry’s preliminary investigation found no evidence implicating the cleric and called for restraint to de-escalate tensions.
As outrage over the recording intensified, armed groups in armored vehicles gathered overnight around Jaramana and began shelling the area, prompting intense gunfights, as reported by a conflict monitoring group tracking the violence.
Protests sparked by the audio clip also spread to other cities, with some demonstrators inciting hostility against the Druse community.
The monitoring group did not identify those responsible for the attacks on Jaramana, which left 17 others injured. However, local Druse religious authorities issued a statement holding the government fully accountable for the violence and any escalation that may follow.
