{"id":125242,"date":"2025-05-01T09:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/?p=125242"},"modified":"2025-05-01T09:58:22","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T09:58:22","slug":"druze-leader-in-suwayda-calls-for-intl-protection-following-assaults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/npasyria.com\/en\/125242\/","title":{"rendered":"Druze leader in Suwayda calls for intl. protection following assaults\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013<\/strong> The spiritual leader of the Druze community in Suwayda, southern Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, called on Thursday for international protection, describing it as &#8220;a legitimate right for a people decimated by massacres.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a statement issued following deadly clashes in the Druze-majority areas of Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya near Damascus, al-Hajri appealed for \u201cimmediate and direct intervention by international forces to preserve peace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The recent violence in these areas erupted amid widespread outrage over audio recordings deemed offensive to the Prophet Muhammad, the authenticity of which remains unverified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded on Wednesday, strongly rejecting such appeals. It described calls for international protection by what it termed \u201cunlawful groups involved in violent acts\u201d as \u201centirely illegitimate and unacceptable,\u201d accusing them of operating outside the framework of Syrian law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his statement, al-Hajri said he no longer trusts a government \u201cthat kills its own people,\u201d warning that the Druze community faces the threat of \u201cmass killings, similar to those witnessed in Syria\u2019s coastal region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He also called on the international community to stop ignoring what he described as ongoing massacres, urging global actors not to remain silent in the face of escalating violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>By Ahmad Othman<\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DAMASCUS, Syria (North Press) \u2013 The spiritual leader of the Druze community in Suwayda, southern Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, called on Thursday for international protection, describing it as &#8220;a legitimate right for a people decimated by massacres.&#8221; In a statement issued following deadly clashes in the Druze-majority areas of Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya near Damascus, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":125243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pgc_sgb_lightbox_settings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39,3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-politics","category-syria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Druze leader in Suwayda calls for intl. protection following assaults\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DAMASCUS, Syria (North 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