Gunmen in Syria have killed two Druze people on a bus travelling from Damascus to the sect's heartland of Sweida, as the government loosens control of the area.
The incident on Tuesday undermined a US-brokered deal last month to reconcile the Syrian government with the Druze, an ancient Arab minority that has struggled for survival since modern Syria was formed from the remnants of the Ottoman Empire a century ago.
The Suwayda24 news network identified the victims as Aya Salam, a college student, and Kamal Abdul Baqi, the conductor on the bus, who was in his 40s. Under the US-brokered agreement reached on September 16 the Syrian government committed to ensuring the "the safe and free movement of citizens and trade" along the route, which links Druze in the capital with their southern heartland on Sweida.
The bus, carrying 30 passengers, left from the Damascus suburb of Jaramana. It had travelled only 15 kilometres to Najha when two masked gunmen in black stopped it and opened fire, Suwayda 24 reported. There was no comment from Syrian authorities.
Rayyan Maarouf, a researcher at the network who interviewed survivors, said the gunmen asked the bus driver where it was going, and to identify the passengers. When they ascertained all the passengers were Druze, they fired at the bus.
The driver sped off and managed to get the bus 30km from the scene, with the two dead passengers and several wounded people on board.
The bus passed through three government roadblocks until reaching a Druze militia position on the outskirts of Sweida, Mr Maarouf said. "Many more would have been killed had the driver not sped away," he added.
Israeli military intervention halted a government offensive in June to control Sweida and defeat Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, a Druze spiritual leader who had criticised the new authorities, calling them extremists. The Hayat Tahrir Al Sham group, which ousted former president Bashar Al Assad in December, is a former affiliate of Al Qaeda. After many of its top brass formed Syria's new government, with Ahmad Al Shara as President, HTS was disbanded.
On Monday, the US said it would provide “life-saving” aid to Sweida, underlining the threat to the Druze.
The Druze are one of three minorities in Syria whose ties with the new government have been marred by violence. In March the authorities sent regular forces and militias to control Alawite coastal areas, which underpinned the old system. In the east, mostly Kurdish militias and loyalist forces have often clashed, despite a deal in March for the fighters to join the new order.
There are several hundred thousand Druze in Syria, out of one million worldwide. The sect is also present in Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, as well as a diaspora community mainly in Latin America.
An intermittent bus service between Damascus and Sweida started this month but Mr Maarouf said passengers have to give reasons for visiting either the central authorities or the Druze administration in Sweida loyal to Mr Al Hijri. This means that only humanitarian cases, or those who attend school outside Sweida, are allowed to proceed.
The attack on the bus, Mr Maarouf said, "serves the narrative" of Mr Al Hijri that it is not safe for the Druze to leave Sweida. According to UN data, about 120,000 of Sweida's Druze have been displaced since June, mostly to Sweida city, after government troops and allied militias captured their towns and villages to the west and north. The province was home to about 50,000 Sunnis, the majority of whom were forced to leave, mostly to the neighbouring province of Deraa, to avoid retribution.
The government cited Druze-Bedouin unrest in Sweida as a reason for entering the province in June. Loyalist forces killed hundreds of Druze civilians, while dozens of Sunni-Bedouin non-combatants were killed by Druze militias.
The mass killing of the Druze has strengthened the communal base of Mr Al Hijri, although the government appointed one of his Druze rivals as a member of a security body supposedly in charge of the province.
