Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced Thursday the withdrawal of security forces from Suwayda, in the south of the country, and the transfer of responsibility for public order to "local factions and wise sheikhs." The measure, presented as a gesture of containment to avoid "an open war" with Israel, actually represents a forced withdrawal, following days of sectarian clashes, a failed army deployment, and growing international pressure.

Israel bombed Syrian military positions in Damascus on Wednesday. The attacks on the Syrian capital hit the presidential palace, the Defense Ministry, and the main entrance to the army headquarters, among other key targets, leaving three dead and 34 wounded, according to the Syrian state news agency. The new offensive comes after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that operations would continue and intensify if Syrian forces did not withdraw from the Suwayda region, where clashes between Druze militias, Bedouin tribes, and regime troops have already caused more than 240 human casualties.

Israel on Tuesday twice bombed several Syrian army positions in Suwayda, a city with a Druze majority in the south of the country, while Damascus troops were deployed to impose a curfew. after sectarian clashes that have left at least 102 dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Israeli authorities, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, have justified the air operation as a measure to "protect the Druze population in Syria" and prevent the militarization of an area they consider strategic and close to their border.

Half a year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship, the new Syrian government has yet to fully capture the territory. The latest bout of violence has left at least 50 dead and more than 100 wounded in the predominantly Druze town of Al-Suwayda, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Most of the victims are Druze civilians, but there are also at least 10 Bedouin and six members of the state security forces. Earlier this morning, the Syrian Interior Ministry reported a preliminary death toll of 30.

This week there have been serious incidents in southern Damascus, beginning in the town of Jarmana. This is not good news. A recording insulting the Prophet Muhammad is circulating, but we don't know if it's a deliberate provocation. It probably is. The audio was reportedly recorded by a cleric from the Druze ethnic group, a religious minority dating back to the Middle Ages, with communities in southern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. The audio has caused unrest among Sunnis, resulting in a dozen deaths on the first day, including some police officers; a death toll that this Friday rose to more than eighty.