Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: Beyond the Headlines
Episode: Is Israel exploiting distrust between Syria’s Druze and Damascus?
Description: The city of Sweida in southern Syria became a battleground this week after a series of retaliatory attacks between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribes escalated.
President Ahmad Al Shara's government deployed general security forces to the area, ostensibly to restore order. What followed were deadly confrontations and dozens of soldiers were killed. But residents of the Druze-majority city say the government's response was brutal. Populous neighbourhoods came under heavy shelling, forcing people to flee, and civilians were killed in the crossfire.
From across the border, Israel intervened with strikes on key government sites including the...