More than a dozen people were killed in a predominantly Druze city near the Syrian capital of Damascus on April 29th after violence broke out due to a purported recording of a Druze man cursing the Prophet Muhammad, which angered Sunni gunmen.
Between April 28 and 29, a deadly conflict erupted between Syrian security forces and local armed Sunni gunmen, which also injured 15 people, in the city of Jaramana because of an audio recording allegedly from a member of the Druze minority in Syria.
The clashes, which occurred with small and medium arms fire that killed 13 people according to local rescue workers, began overnight when gunmen from the nearby town of Maliha and other predominantly Sunni areas converged on Jaramana.
According to Mustafa al-Abdo, the spokesperson of Syria’s Interior Ministry, two members of Syria’s General Security Service, a newly established security force composed mainly of former rebels, were also among those killed during the fighting.
Abdo denied that the gunmen attacked the town and argued instead that a group of civilians angered by the voice recording staged a protest that came under fire from Druze groups.
The anonymous clip went viral on April 26th, igniting outrage among Syrian activists and religious leaders, and also sparked anger aimed at the residents of Jaramana, a city located 3 kilometers southeast of Damascus and predominantly populated by Druze and Christian minorities.
Many in Syria, who are predominantly Sunni Muslim, saw the recording as an insult to Islam, while others called for restraint and to wait for results from official investigations before blaming anyone.
The incident also marked another episode of deadly sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among religious minorities have been growing since Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted former President Bashar Al-Assad and installed a provisional government under the leadership of Ahmed al-Sharaa.
These fears spiked when hundreds of Alawites, a Muslim ethno-religious minority often associated with the former regime, were massacred in March in an apparent revenge for an attack by Assad loyalists.
Syria’s Interior Ministry responded swiftly to the incident and tried to ease tensions by reassuring the public that they had initiated a “comprehensive investigation“ into the voice recording. It also emphasized that preliminary inquiries had not yet confirmed the speaker's identity, despite speculations online. However, public anger remains high.
“Preliminary evidence does not link the voice in the recording to the individual being accused on social media,“ an anonymous source from Syria’s interior ministry told the online news site The Media Line.
“Efforts are ongoing to determine the identity of the speaker so they may face justice under applicable laws,“ he added.
Druze elders also met Syrian security forces to ease tensions and prevent further escalations.
"What was said by a few individuals against our Prophet represents only them and is rejected by us and all of society," Druze religious leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou said, calling on both communities to reject efforts to fuel sectarian division.
Representatives of the Syrian government and leaders of the Druze community later agreed to hold those involved in the attack responsible, and they also agreed to work on reducing sectarian and communal mobilization. However, some Druze leaders and activists blamed the Syrian government for failing to prevent the attack in Jaramana and warned that it would bear responsibility for any future repercussions.
