Sawt Falasteen - Israel says strikes Syria to shield Druze as clashes spread

The sectarian violence, and Israel's intervention, present huge challenges to the Islamist authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, and follow massacres last month in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel "carried out a warning action and struck the organisation of an extremist group preparing to attack the Druze population" in Sahnaya.

Deadly sectarian clashes erupted overnight in Sahnaya, a town home to people from Syria's Druze and Christian minorities southwest of the capital.

Israel had previously warned Syria's Islamist rulers against harming the Druze, who follow an offshoot of Islam and make up about three percent of Syria's population.

"A stern message was conveyed to the Syrian regime -- Israel expects them to act to prevent harm to the Druze community," said a statement from Netanyahu's office.

State news agency SANA, citing the health ministry, said 11 people were killed and an unspecified number wounded "after outlaw groups targeted civilians and security forces" in the Sahnaya area overnight.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said two local fighters were killed in Sahnaya during "clashes between gunmen linked to the authorities and local Druze fighters".

The night before, 17 people including eight Druze fighters and nine gunmen linked to the authorities were killed in Jaramana, a mainly Druze and Christian suburb southeast of the capital, the Observatory said.

Jaramana and Sahnaya are surrounded by Sunni-majority areas.

The violence was sparked by the circulation of an audio recording attributed to a Druze citizen and deemed blasphemous.

AFP was unable to confirm the recording's authenticity.

- 'Iron fist' -

In Sahnaya, activist Samer Rafaa said that "we didn't sleep... right now mortar shells are falling on our homes".

"The authorities are absent... we beg them to do their part," Rafaa told AFP, adding that "people are dying."

The interior ministry said authorities would "strike with an iron first all those who seek to destabilise Syria's security", SANA reported.

It said security forces launched an operation to arrest "outlaw gangs" in the area.

Syria's new Islamist authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist network, have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country but must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists within their ranks.

Israel, which sees Syria's new forces as jihadists, has launched hundreds of strikes on military sites in Syria since Assad's downfall and ground incursions to keep forces away from its border.

It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone of the Israeli-annexed Syrian Golan Heights and voiced support for Syria's Druze.

The Druze are mainly divided between Lebanon, Israel and Syria.

Key Syria backer Turkey has accused Israel of stirring up divisions and turning minorities against Damascus.

Citing a security source, SANA said that "outlaw groups" in Sahnaya attacked a checkpoint overnight while other groups fired at vehicles elsewhere.

The Observatory also said Druze gunmen targeted checkpoints, adding a curfew was imposed and local officials discussed ways to restore calm.

- Jaramana clashes -

Druze fighter Karam, declining to provide his full name due to the security situation, told AFP that clashes began outside Sahnaya "and spread to its outskirts".

"The sound of fighting has not stopped since last night," said Karam, 27, as gunfire rang out in the background, adding that "there is a body on the road ahead of me... restoring calm will require great effort".

Information ministry official Ali al-Rifai told journalists the dead included five security personnel targeted by "sniper" fire.

The six others, from the southern province of Daraa, were inside a vehicle that was targeted, Rifai added.

Armed factions were dissolved and have been integrating into the defence ministry after Assad's ouster.

General Security, formerly the chief security agency in rebel-held northwest Syria, is now the most influential such body.

In Jaramana, calm returned on as Syria's government promised Druze leaders to try those responsible for the violence, which it blamed on "gunmen".

An AFP photographer said mourners raised Druze flags at the funeral Wednesday for seven fighters from Jaramana.

Druze representatives have declared their loyalty to a united Syria amid Israeli warnings.

Last month's massacres on the coast, where the Observatory said security forces and allied groups killed more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, were the worst bloodshed since the December ouster of Assad, who is from the minority community.

The government accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence by attacking security forces, and has launched an inquiry.

U.Shaheen--SF-PST