Syria under President Ahmad Sharaa remains far from achieving genuine national reconciliation, a meaningful political settlement and unity, analysts say.

Even if it does not, the incident seems a grim turning-point in Syria’s transition. It has reinforced fears that the state is incapable of protecting minority groups. It may also have ripple effects in neighbouring Lebanon, where the government sworn in earlier this year is trying to disarm Hizbullah, a Shia militia.

If Israel proceeds with a plan to divide Syria to “protect” the Druze in the south, it would have to send ground forces into Sweida - an area nearly a quarter the size of Israel. Military conquest might be the easy part; holding the territory would be far harder.

By Timour Azhari BEIRUT (Reuters) -Thousands of Syrian refugees are set to return from Lebanon this week under the first, U.N.-backed plan providing financial incentives, after Syria's new rulers said all citizens were welcome home despite deep war damage and security concerns.

Thousands went missing during Syria’s decades-long intervention in Lebanon. Months after the fall of the Syrian regime, families are still clinging to hope.

When the Syrian civil war erupted in March 2011, Syrian Druze were targeted at times by both the Assad regime, which pressured them to support it, and by Islamist rebel groups that regarded them as infidels. The Druze straddled a fine line throughout the war, seeking, not always successfully, to be left on their own.

A U.S. envoy is reaffirming Washington's support for Syria's new government and telling The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that there is "no Plan B" for uniting the country.

During discussions with Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that Beirut must implement economic reforms before an aid conference can be organized to support Lebanon's reconstruction.

Lebanon is seeking a treaty that would see most Syrian prisoners serve the rest of their sentence in their homeland in a bid to ease severe overcrowding in Lebanese jails. At Lebanon's largest jail of Roumieh,

The Druze live in pockets across the Middle East, and Israeli members of the community want Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to help their kin in Syria.

A U.S. envoy has reaffirmed Washington's support for Syria's new government, stating there is "no Plan B" for uniting the country

After deadly clashes in southern Syria, Euronews spoke exclusively to religious leaders and activists from the community about the origins of the Druze and the effects of recent violence.View on euron