This week, fighting broke out in the Syrian capital, Damascus’s suburbs in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya. At least 30 individuals have been slain in the violence, which started with local armed men from the Druze religious minority and unidentified gunmen from nearby cities.

After Syrian security forces stepped in to bring about peace, Israel launched an attack on Syria under the pretext that it was “defending the Druze.”

The turmoil occurs while the Syrian government, which has been in charge since former President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow in December, attempts to establish its dominance over the whole nation.

What initiated the recent turmoil in Syria?

According to observers, the disturbance appears to have begun when a voice recording purporting to be a Druze leader’s curses against the Prophet Muhammad went viral. There are doubts about the recording’s legitimacy. However, it infuriated a lot of Syrians, and a group of unidentified gunmen assaulted Jaramana, a town that is mostly Druze.

According to the Syrian Ministry of the Interior, its troops were ambushed after attempting to disperse the fighting. At least two personnel of Syria’s General Security Services were among the dead, according to the authorities. Three “attackers” and six Druze fighters were also slain, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The violence then moved to Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, another village on the outskirts of Damascus with a sizable Druze population. Sixteen members of the security forces were murdered in an attack on a security checkpoint in Sahnaya, a source in the Syrian Interior Ministry informed Al Jazeera. The SOHR reported that six Druze fighters were slain in the ensuing combat.

According to the Interior Ministry, Israel then assaulted security troops in Sahnaya with airstrikes, while Israel claimed to have hit “extremists.” Since then, the Syrian government has said that peace has returned to Ashrafiyat Sahnaya and Jaramana.

What caused the unrest?

The aftermath of more than 12 years of conflict, the presence of several armed groups, and the volatility that comes with significant changes have created a hazardous atmosphere despite efforts by Syria’s new government to stabilise the nation. Hundreds of people were murdered in Syria’s coastline area during the fiercest turmoil in early March.

Widespread attacks against civilians, many of whom belonged to the previous president’s Alawite sect, were recorded when Assad regime loyalists attacked security troops, igniting the bloodshed as fighters from other regions joined in. Syria fears that al-Assad’s followers will continue to attempt to topple the new government, which has yet to establish authority and ensure national security.

Some of that anxiety has turned into mistrust of Druze and Alawites, among other minorities.

Minorities, on the other hand, are alarmed by this mistrust and concerned about the existence of armed combatants with affiliations to organisations like al-Qaeda.

These concerns have not yet been allayed despite the new government’s emphasis on equality in the new Syria. The nation is already plagued by the tensions that resulted in the most recent conflict in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, and this is compounded by the possibility that fake news might proliferate on social media.

What prompts Israel’s involvement?

Since al-Assad’s overthrow, Israel has reportedly increased its attacks on Syria and is annexing additional territory. Along the border, it had already unlawfully seized a portion of the Syrian Golan Heights and often bombarded locations in Syria that it claimed belonged to pro-Iranian organisations like Hezbollah in Lebanon.

According to observers, Israel seized the chance presented by al-Assad’s flight and intensified its attacks, accusing the new administration of being “extremist” and disguising itself as a supporter of the Druze in Syria, a group whose members are subject to Israeli rule. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for the “complete demilitarisation” of the region and declared that “he would not permit” Syrian government forces to operate on Syrian territory south of the capital, Damascus.

In order to form an alliance of minorities throughout the Middle East, some Israelis have urged for capturing Druze-majority regions in southern Syria. Following the battle near Ashrafiyat Sahnaya on Wednesday, the Israeli military said that it had transported three Syrian Druze to Israel for medical care.