The Sonan sirens, an armed truck or men in its path, the black sports utility vehicle that cut sharks through the Syrian city of Ashrafieh Sahnaya on Friday morning was impossible to lose.
The government forces had resumed the control of the armed groups that turned the city into a sectarian battlefield for two days this week, killing dishes and exposing everyone to see the unstable grip of the new Syrian leaders about security. Now, government representatives had arrived to promise peace to a skeptical city.
In an aerated and resonant religious gatherings, two suits officials sat shoulder shoulder with leaders from Druce’s religious minority in the traditional white hats of red, speaking of unity.
“We are all in a single ship,” said Jameel Mudawwar, the best official in the area. “If he sinks, God does not want it, we will all sink.”
The words were not new, but this time they come with action.
The main militias of Duse in Syria, which control a strategic strip of southern Syria, near Israel, have resisted an impulse of the new Islamist government to be folded in the National Army, fearing that access would endanger its people.
But as blood spill mounted this week, Druse’s local leaders in Ashrafieh Sahnaya went the other way. In exchange for government concessions, including promises to investigate the abuses committed the duration of the clashes, they agree to deliver their weapons and integrate some combatants in the government forces.
“We should love each other, and we should all be among us,” said 86 -year -old Druse’s religious leader in the city, Sheikh Abu Rabih Haj Ali. “We don’t want to wear weapons. We don’t want to be against the State.”
It was what the government expected to hear for months, after the rebels of the Muslim majority Sunita overthrew the dictator of Bashar al-Assad in December. But many Syrians of the many religious and ethnic minorities of the country remain distrustful of their new leaders in the middle of repeated spasms of violence aimed at minorities, including the druse.
This week, an discredited audio clip that was intended to be or Druse’s cleric insulting the prophet Muhammad prompted Sunni extremists to attack Druse, even in Ashrafieh Sahnaya, south of Damascus, the capital. At least 101 people were killed, including government forces, Druse combatants and civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a War Monitor based in Britain.
In Ashraphieh Sahnaya, where different sects have coexisted for a long time, mortars and shells crashed into buildings. The drones came out from the sky, and the residents brought the interior of the fighters of the local Druse militia fought against government forces and armed Sunni extremists.
The rebel coalition that demolished Mr. Al-Assad included some Islamist extremist factions that remain outside the central control, and that the Syrian authorities have shown little capacity to control.
Israel, whose government is close to the Israeli minority Druse, then intervenes in the name of the protection of Sirio Druse, launching air attacks on the objectives of the Syrian government.
There are more than one million druses in the Middle East, mainly in Syria and Lebanon, and some in Jordan and Israel. They practice a reserved branch of Islam.
For Friday, the bloodshed still seemed a raw wound than memory for many.
A man at Friday’s meeting demanded government guarantees on security and security. Dispension with the conciliatory tone of the other present, the pro -government forces of the Matanza civilians accused.
The meeting officials asked for patience.
“We promise him a better life,” said Mr. Mudawwar, government official. “What happens to you will happen to you. It is the government’s duty to protect everyone.”
Some listeners bought it.
Saleh Makiki, nephew of Mr. Haj Ali, said he had lost five relatives this week, including his father, a son and an uncle. However, he said he was willing to advance.
“The errors occurred, but now we have guarantees,” he said. Later, the Government released 32 local men arrested the duration of the clashes, satisfying a key demand of Duse.
Outside the meeting room, at the beginning, opinions were divided.
On the other side of the street, Bahira Haj Ali, 42, bowed to his window to see the sheikh, a relative, starting.
“It is good that we have men to resist,” he said about Druse’s local militias. “You can’t imagine the sounds we hear: shells, drones.” However, it was difficult to trust government forces, he said, he added, he could feel different if Ashrafieh Sahnaya’s men join.
As for the weapons of Druse’s militias, Mrs. Haj Ali said: “This is our security. It should not give up it.”
In the city, there was disagreement about how violence began.
Some Sunnitas said that Duse’s militants had attacked government control points after the extremists attacked a nearby city, while Duse said that Sunni extremists had attacked first.
Around the town square, broken glass and bullet covers covered the ground. The young boxes marched to the square after Friday’s prayers ended up in a nearby mosque, stirring the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham flag, former rebel group Sunita that Tok Power in December.
“One, one, one,” they sang. “The Syrian people are one.”
But more often, it was his sect, not his country, what they emphasized.
“These are the Sunitas,” they sang. “The prophet Muhammad is our eternal leader.”
