Sectarian clashes distributed by the capital of Syria, drawing in Israel

The violent confrontations between the pro -government combatants and the Druse militia around the capital of Syria, Damascus, extended on Wednesday and attracted Israel’s military to the fray, leaving at least 11 dead people, according to Syrian authorities and a war monitor.

The death toll from death for two days of disturbances increased to at least 28 after the last outbreak of weapons.

The Israeli army said that he had carried out a warning attack against the outskirts of Damascus against what he called “extremists” that is said to be preparing to attack the members of the Druse religious minority, according to a joint declaration of the office of the Israeli Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense.

The Israel Government has close relations with the Druse community in Israel and has offered to protect the Druse in Syria if they are attacked in the midst of a tumultuous power transition. Syrian authorities did not make immediate comments about the Israeli attack.

The last combat extended during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday to the city of Ashrafieh Sahnaya, a city largely Druse to the south of Damascus, when armed gunmen attacked control points and vehicles that belong to government forces, according to the state news agency Syria, healthy.

That followed the clashes one day before in Jaramana, another city on the outskirts of southern Damascus that is also home to a large amount of Duse.

Violence in Ashraphieh Sahnaya on Wednesday saw the local battle of the Druse militia with pro -government combatants, according to the War Monitor, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, based in Great Britain.

An official of the Syrian Interior Ministry called the gunmen who attacked government forces on Wednesday “criminals” and said the government “would hit an iron fist,” according to healthy.

The fight this week exploded after an audio clip circulated on social networks that sought to be a Druse cleric insulting the prophet Muhammad. The cleric denied the accusation, and the Interior Ministry of Syria said that his initial findings showed that he was not the person in the clip.

However, the appeals for the calm of the Syrian government did little to stop anger, with protests that explode in several cities. Many of the demonstrations acquired a sectarian tone with some protesters who requested violence against Duse, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Syria is a predominantly Sunnite Muslim nation, while Druse is a religious group that practices a deliberately mysterious branch of Islam. The rebels who led the overthrow of former dictator Bashar al-Assad belonged to a Sunni Islamist group that was once linked to Al Qaeda. Now they direct the Government and the National Army.

Many Syrian druses have rejected any offer from Israel to defend itself. Some Duse crossed the border last month in a religious pilgrimage to Israel for the first time in years.

Since Mr. Al-Assad was expelled, Israel has carried out numerous incursions in Syria, attacking villages, launching hundreds of air attacks and destroying military advanced positions. Israel says that it wants to prevent weapons from falling into hostile groups and that it does not want enemy forces to strengthen areas near their borders.

The new Syrian leaders have fought to integrate the complex network of armed groups operating throughout the country in the new state apparatus. Several of the strongest Drouse militias are in conversations with the government about their conditions to integrate into the army.

After violence in Jaramana, Syrian officials met Tuesday with religious figures of Duse and leaders of the local community in an attempt to restore calm. They agreed to hold those involved in the attack, according to healthy.

Jaramana was mostly quiet on Wednesday, but some residents had fled from chaos, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Sectarian violence has affected Syria several times since the expulsion of Mr. Assad, fueling fears among many minority groups that the new leaders of the country will marginalize or even go to them.

Last month, a wave of sectarian violence broke out in the coastal region of Syria, home of the country’s alauitas, the minority group to which the Assad family belongs. Violence began with Assad’s loyal ones by launching a coordinated attack against the forces of the new government in the area.

Thousands of pro -government combatants assaulted the coastal region and killed more than 1,600 civilians, mostly Alauitas, in a few days, according to the Human Rights Observatory.

Aaron Boxerman Reports contributed from Jerusalem.