After clashes, Syrian Druze leaders sign deal to hand over heavy weapons to regime

Druze representatives in the Jaramana area in the suburbs of Damascus have signed an agreement with Syrian regime representatives to hand over heavy weapons held by the Druze to the regime and to reinforce the regime’s security forces in the area.

Hossam al-Tahan, head of the Syrian regime’s security administration in the Damascus area, announced the agreement. According to the agreement, unlicensed weapons will be handed over to the authorities after a defined period.

Furthermore, last night, the governor of the Sweida province, a Druze stronghold in southern Syria, announced an agreement allowing the entry of official Syrian security forces into the area, for the first time since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the rise to power of Ahmad al-Sharaa.

The new regime’s agreements with the Druze in Syria come after several days of clashes between local armed Druze groups and other armed groups, followed by confrontations between the Druze and official Syrian security forces in Druze strongholds across Syria. These caused Israeli strikes Jerusalem has said were in defense of the Druze community, many members of which live in the Jewish state.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition body operating from outside Syria, has reported 21 deaths in the past 24 hours and 101 in recent days. According to the report, most were armed men killed in exchanges of fire, but nine Druze civilians were executed by Syrian security forces. These claims have not been independently verified, and the Observatory has a shaky track record regarding reliability.