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A Syria war monitor on Tuesday said nine people including six Druze fighters were killed in sectarian clashes near Damascus, as authorities blamed “gunmen” and vowed to pursue those involved.The overnight clashes, sparked by the circulation on social media of an audio recording deemed blasphemous, were met with condemnation from leaders of the Druze religious minority.The violence follows sectarian massacres last month in the Alawite coastal heartland that were the worst bloodshed since Islamist-led forces overthrew longtime president Bashar al-Assad in December.While seeking to present a more moderate image to the world, the new authorities must also contend with pressures from radical Islamists within their ranks.”Heavy clashes erupted in Jaramana after security forces and affiliated gunmen stormed” areas of the mostly Druze and Christian suburb of Jaramana, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.It added that the clashes erupted after “the circulation of an audio recording, attributed to a Druze citizen, containing religious insults”.AFP was unable to confirm the recording’s authenticity.The Britain-based monitor, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said six Druze fighters from Jaramana and three “attackers” were killed.The interior ministry reported “intermittent clashes between groups of gunmen”, adding that security forces “went to break up the clashes and protect the residents”.It reported unspecified casualties including among the security forces.”We affirm our keenness to pursue those involved and hold them to account,” it said in a statement, adding that investigations were also ongoing to identify who was behind the recording “insulting our Prophet Mohammed”.An AFP correspondent saw armed men deployed on the road to Jaramana and at its entrances.- ‘Full responsibility’ -“We will not be lenient in bringing to justice anyone who contributes to sowing chaos and undermining security,” the ministry statement added.Jaramana’s Druze religious leadership in a statement condemned “the unjustified armed attack” that “targeted innocent civilians and terrorised” residents.”We strongly condemn any insult against” the Prophet Mohammed, the statement said, calling the “fabricated” audio recording an attempt to “sow strife and division”.It said that the Syrian authorities bore “full responsibility for the incident and for any further developments or worsening of the crisis”.Local residents told AFP they heard gunfire and shelling overnight but that fighting had subsided by morning.A Jaramana resident, requesting anonymity due to safety concerns, told AFP that “we were trapped in our homes as the sound of intermittent gunfire continued”.”The children have not gone to school and the streets of our neighbourhood are empty this morning,” the resident added.Riham Waqqaf, a 33-year-old humanitarian worker, said she was staying home with her husband and children.She expressed worry that Jaramana “might turn into a battlefield… I am afraid of the situation escalating further”.Fighter Jamal, declining to provide his full name, said local armed groups had asked Jaramana residents to stay home “for their safety”.”Jaramana has not witnessed a day like this in many years,” he added.The area is also home to families displaced by Syria’s conflict which erupted in 2011.- Coastal violence -Security forces deployed in Jaramana last month following clashes between security forces and local gunmen tasked with protecting the area, the Observatory had said.Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz at that time warned the new Islamist-led authorities not “to harm the Druze” minority, which is also spread across Lebanon and Israel.Druze leaders rejected the Israeli warning and declared their loyalty to a united Syria.The clashes in Jaramana mark the latest test for the Islamist authorities, who have roots in the Al-Qaeda jihadist group but have vowed inclusive rule in the multi-confessional, multi-ethnic country.The authorities have been seeking to persuade Western capitals that the jihadist origins of the forces who toppled Assad are confined to the past, and that crippling international sanctions should be lifted.Some countries including the United States have said they would wait to see how the new authorities exercise their power and ensure human rights.Druze representatives have been negotiating with authorities on an agreement to integrate their armed groups into the new national army.Last month’s coastal violence saw security forces and allied groups kill more than 1,700 civilians, mostly Alawites, the Observatory had said. The government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led the offensive that toppled Assad, accused Assad loyalists of sparking the violence by attacking security forces, and has launched an inquiry.burs-lar/lg/jsa

A Syrian Islamist rebel ex-spokesman went on trial in France on Tuesday under the principle of universal jurisdiction, accused of complicity in war crimes during Syria’s civil war.As his trial opened, Majdi Nema, 36, told the court in Paris there was no evidence to back charges against him.French authorities arrested Nema in the southern city of Marseille in 2020, after he travelled to the country on a student exchange programme.He was detained and charged under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows states to prosecute suspects accused of serious crimes regardless of where they were committed. This is the first time that crimes committed during Syria’s civil war have been tried in France under the universal jurisdiction.Nema — better known by his nom-de-guerre of Islam Alloush — has been charged with complicity in war crimes between 2013 and 2016, when he was spokesman for a Syrian Islamist rebel group called Jaish al-Islam.He has however said he only had a “limited role” in the armed opposition group that held sway in the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus during that period.Jaish al-Islam was one of the main opposition groups fighting Bashar al-Assad’s government before Islamist-led fighters toppled him in December, but it has also been accused of terrorising civilians in areas it controlled.- Recruiting children? -Nema, who faces up to 20 years in jail if found guilty, has in particular been accused of helping recruit children and teenagers to fight for the group.His arrest came after rights groups, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), filed a criminal complaint in France in 2019 against members of Jaish al-Islam for their alleged crimes.It was the FIDH that discovered Nema was in France during research into Jaish al-Islam’s hierarchy and informed the French authorities.Born in 1988, Nema was a captain in the Syrian armed forces before defecting in 2012 and joining the group that would in 2013 become known as Jaish al-Islam.He told investigators that he left Eastern Ghouta in May 2013 and crossed the border to Turkey, where he worked as the group’s spokesman, before leaving the group in 2016. He has cited his presence in Turkey as part of his defence.Nema travelled to France in November 2019 under a university exchange programme and was arrested in January 2020.- Disappearances -The defendant was initially indicted for complicity in the enforced disappearances of four activists in Eastern Ghouta in late 2013 — including prominent rights defender Razan Zaitouneh — but those charges have since been dropped on procedural grounds.Jaish al-Islam has been accused of involvement in their abduction, though it has denied this.France has since 2010 been able to try cases under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which argues some crimes are so serious that all states have the obligation to prosecute offenders.The country’s highest court upheld this principle in 2023, allowing for the investigation into Nema to continue. A previous trial in May last year of Syrians charged over their actions in the war took place because French nationals were the victims, rather than under the principle of universal jurisdiction.A Paris court in that trial ordered life sentences for three top Syrian security officials linked to the former Assad government for their role in the torture and disappearance of a French-Syrian father and son in Syria in 2013. They were tried in absentia.Syria’s conflict has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions more from their homes since it erupted in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

Firefighters have brought under control a blaze at Iran’s main port, following a deadly explosion blamed on negligence, authorities in the Islamic republic said.The explosion, heard dozens of kilometres (miles) away, hit a dock at the southern port of Shahid Rajaee on Saturday.At least 70 people were killed and more than 1,000 others suffered injuries in the blast and ensuing fire, which also caused extensive damage, state media reported.Red Crescent official Mokhtar Salahshour told the channel late Monday that the fire had been “contained” and a clean-up was under way.State television aired live footage on Tuesday showing thick smoke rising from stacked containers.Iran’s ILNA news agency quoted Hossein Zafari, spokesman for the country’s crisis management organisation, as saying the situation had improved significantly since Monday.However, “the operation and complete extinguishing process may take around 15 to 20 days”, the agency reported.Iran’s customs authority said port operations had returned to normal, according to the IRNA news agency.The port of Shahid Rajaee lies near the major coastal city of Bandar Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through which one-fifth of global oil output passes.Hormozgan provincial governor Mohammad Ashouri ruled out sabotage.”The set of hypotheses and investigations carried out during the process indicated that the sabotage theory lacks basis or relevance,” he told state television late Monday.The port’s customs office said the blast may have started in a depot storing hazardous and chemical materials.Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said there were “shortcomings, including noncompliance with safety precautions and negligence”.A committee assigned to investigate the blast cited similar factors as the likely cause.