Druze residents describe ‘bloodbath’ in Syrian city

Over the past five days, Rima says she has seen “barbaric” scenes.

The 45 -year -old Druze woman lived in the southern Syrian city of Sweden in her entire life, and she never believed that her hometown, which was one day, would become a theater of dolls.

“There were bodies everywhere outside our building,” to the BBC, using a pseudonym, using a pseudonym for their safety.

Rima said that she gathered inside her home, where she is preparing for the militants, as government forces and foreign fighters moved through her neighborhood earlier this week, as she headed to the door to the door looking for their next victim.

She remembers her voice: “One of the worst feelings ever is to continue to wait until people come to your home and decide whether we should live or die”, her voice is still trembling with fear.

Violence left Rima and her neighbors feeling abandoned and fearful in their homes, as bullets and shells seemed abroad.

Long -term tensions erupted between the Druze and Bedouins tribes in Suwaida to fatal sectarian clashes on Sunday, after the kidnapping of a Druze merchant on the highway to the capital, Damascus.

With the spread of the fighting to other parts of the southern province, the government of temporary President Ahmed Al-Shara-who led the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime by the Islamic-led rebels in December-will deploy the forces of the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Defense to “restore stability.”

Since the fall of Assad, some local Druze leaders have rejected the presence of security forces in the city of Suwaida. When government forces were deployed on Tuesday, the fighting escalated.

Soon after, the government forces were accused of attacking both Druze fighters and civilians, prompting the Israeli army to intervene with a series of air strikes that he said aimed at protecting the Druze.

Rima also watched this play, making the lack of internet and power difficult to keep up with the events that are revealed. All you know is definitely what you can see from its window: altar bodies and burning buildings.

The Syrian government media also cited the authorities and tribes of Badwin as saying that “external groups” carried out “massacres” and other crimes against Bedouin and civilian fighters.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK -based monitoring group, said it has documented killing At least 594 people since SundayIncluding 154 Druze civilians, 83 of whom were killed by government forces, and three members of the Badwin tribes who were killed by Druze fighters.

Nayef, a Draz man who also changed his name, faced horrific scenes in Sweden.

“We are collecting bodies from the streets. We found bodies left outside the houses, next to the houses for two or three days,” he told the BBC in an interview on the phone.

Although he is a government employee, Nayef criticized the disbelief in what he considered the brutality of government forces inside the city.

“They broke into the neighborhoods, and they chose the wealthy houses. They looted these houses and then burned them. They sprayed civilians unarmed by bullets.”

It seems that social media circulating videos support Nayef allegations.

On Wednesday afternoon Facebook shows at least half of the men who wear camouflaged clothes, launching live tours in a group of residents, who kneel on the sidewalk.

The United Nations Human Rights Office said that it documented the killing of at least 13 people on Tuesday by armed men of the government who intentionally opened fire in a family gathering. On the same day, they were said to have executed six men near their homes.

While the demolition of bullets and shells, Sweden’s residents left wondering when the assistance was coming.

But it never came.

Rima said that she saw the security forces, entered foreign fighters, and then shot her neighbor in front of his mother.

“Is this the army and security forces who were supposed to come and protect us?” I asked. “People were stolen. Those who were killed were young and unarmed.”

Another certificate we heard the support of Rima’s claim. Those who we spoke to them said that most of the fighters who entered Sweden and attacked the civilians seemed to be Islamists.

The woman of the fighters heard shouting “God is great” (God is greater) in her building, describing “the infidels” and “pigs”, and they say they were there to kill them.

Some of these fighters have released videos of themselves online from humiliating men in Sweden, including cutting or shaving the streets of Sheikh Druze. Stocks are a symbol of religious identity Druze.

The BBC is close to the Syrian government for the official comments on this issue, but it has not yet received a response.

In an early televised speech on Thursday, Shay pledged to hold the perpetrators accountable and promised them to make the Druze protection “priority.”

“We are keen on the responsibility of those who have exceeded and offended the treatment of our residents because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,” he said.

He continued to blame “external groups”, saying that their leaders “refused to dialogue for several months.”

For many, the promise of protection seemed to be a Diga Fu.

It was similar to the president when government forces and Islamic fighters allied with deadly revenge against civilians from another religious minority, who were from the Elisal, in response to attacks by Assad loyalists in the coastal area in March.

A committee was created to investigate these violations – but it has not provided any results.

Nayef accounts and others endured many similarities with what happened on the coast in March.

“There is a complete shortage of confidence with the government,” Nayef said. “They only serve lips. They say nice things about freedoms, documenting violations and accountability, but they are all lies.”

Many Swedish residents say this last episode of sectarian violence will have long -term effects.

One of the women told the BBC: “If it is not a matter of Israel’s bombing, we will not be able to talk to you today,” one of the women told the BBC.

However, some also criticized the Israeli air strikes and claimed that they were behaving to protect the Druze.

Nev said: “No one wants Israel. We are a national people. We were at the forefront of people to adopt patriotism. We should not doubt our loyalty and homeland.”

Additional reports by Samantha Granville in Beirut