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DAMASCUS: Clashes broke out in a suburb of the Syrian Arab Republic capital early Tuesday between local gunmen belonging to the minority Druze sect and pro-government fighters, leaving at least 10 people dead, an activist group said.
The fighting in the southern Damascus suburb of Jaramana began after an audio clip circulated on social media of a man criticizing Islam’s Prophet Muhammad.
The audio was attributed to a Druze cleric. But cleric Marwan Kiwan said in a video posted on social media that he was not responsible for the audio, which angered many Sunni Muslims.
"I categorically deny that the audio was made by me,” Kiwan said. “I did not say that, and whoever made it is an evil man who wants to incite strife between components of the Syrian people.”
The Interior Ministry said in a statement it was investigating the audio clip, adding that its initial probe showed the cleric was not responsible. The ministry urged people to abide by the law and not to act in a way that undermines security.
The Druze religious leadership in Jaramana condemned the audio but blasted the “unjustified armed attack” on the suburb. It urged the state to publicly clarify what happened.
“Why does this keep happening every now and then? It’s as if there’s no state or government in charge. They need to establish security checkpoints, especially in areas where they are tensions,” said Jaramana resident Abu Tarek Zaaour.
The activist media collective Suwayda24 said 11 people were killed and 12 were wounded.
Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of Suwayda24 said gunmen were holding the attacker's bodies and talks are on the way to hand them over.
Syrian Druze gunmen have clashed in recent weeks with government security forces in Jaramana.
On March 1, Israel’s Defense Ministry said the military was instructed to prepare to defend Jaramana, asserting that the minority it has vowed to protect was “under attack” by Syrian forces.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Over half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
The worst internal clashes in Syria since the fall of President Bashar Assad in early December occurred last month in the country's coastal region and involved members of the minority Alawite sect that the former president belonged to.
The clashes between Assad loyalists and government forces were accompanied by revenge killings that left more than 1,000 people dead, including hundreds of civilians, according to a war monitor. The Associated Press has not been able to independently verify the figures.