Deepfake video sparks deadly attack on Syrian Druze community

A minimum of 12 people have been murdered and 15 injured after a militant attack took place on the 29th of April on a predominantly Druze minority area of Damascus.

According to The National, no group has taken responsibility for the attack on the Jaramana suburb.

The attack is believed to have been instigated after a deepfake video spread across social media, which showed the Syrian Druze Sheikh, Marwan Kiwan, appearing to denounce the Prophet Mohammed.

This led spiritual leaders and Muslims across Syria to warn that the video was not real and had been set up to spark outrage, leading to violence in an attempt to ignite sectarian strife.

The Syrian interior ministry has stated “strict punishment” will be brought to the creator of the video, which dubbed Sheikh Kiwan to denounce the Prophet Mohammed.

Locals report that militants from the nearby area of Ghouta fired mortar rounds into the region during the night and attempted to breach a checkpoint named Al Nassem, which is manned by the Druze police force.

After the attacks, the Druze spiritual leadership stated, “We call on officialdom to address public opinion and reveal the whole facts, and stop the campaign of provocation and [portraying the Druze as] traitors.”

This issue of sectarian violence is spreading throughout Syria and has become one of the main challenges the new interim government led by al-Sharaa must face.

In March, over 1,000 Alawites were massacred in Northwestern Syria, and now attacks target the Druze minority, despite their recent integration efforts with the new government through agreements signed by Suweida elders on March 12th.

Now, with the recent attacks on the Druze community and the previous violence on the Alawite minority, many analysts will see Syria and its new government under increasing threat from sectarian violence on top of economic and geopolitical issues.

The National, Maghrebi.org