The ongoing sectarian conflict between Druze and Bedouins within the Syrian city of Suwayda has continued to affect the Christian community there, with over 250 people taking shelter within the Capuchin Church of Jesus the King.
The conflict has already drawn in Israel, who’ve carried out strikes in support of the Druze, a lot of whom live in Israeli occupied territory and serve in its military. The Druze practise a syncretic faith which has its origins in Shia Islam. The Bedouins are Sunni Muslims.
However, faith doesn’t look like the principal motivator for violence. Recently a Christian convert from the Druze community was killed together with 11 members of his family. While details of the murders remain sketchy, sources indicate the convert was killed for his Druze background, relatively than his Christian faith.
Now, around 60 to 70 families, a lot of them Christian, have abandoned their villages to take refuge within the church, apparently within the hope of weathering the continued storm.
Sources on the bottom have told the Catholic charity, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that locals lack water, food and electricity. Militants are looting warehouses, while shelling and bombardment are a seamless threat.
An anonymous witness said, “In recent days, the church compound was hit by intense shelling. A shell struck the monastery, causing significant damage to water tanks and glass windows. Miraculously, nobody contained in the church was injured.”
Another said, “The siege continues, and sniper fire makes it not possible to get out.
“Sporadic gunshots are heard and fear is constant, with no clarity on who the fighting factions are. There are still many missing people – they may very well be in other villages, or dead of their homes.”
There is not any guarantee for Christians in the realm that they will probably be left alone while the Druze and Bedouins settle their differences.
Earlier this month St Michael’s Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Al-Soura Al-Kabirawas was significantly damaged in an attack and no less than 38 Christian homes have been destroyed, forcing residents to take refuge in a church hall. In Shahba.
There they proceed to live in siege conditions, with no outside aid coming to bring relief.
The situation appears to point that the brand new Syrian government, despite its stated aim of making an inclusive Syria freed from sectarian violence, is solely unable to make this dream a reality in a land that’s awash with a mess of armed militant groups.
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