HUNDREDS of people demonstrated in Syria’s southern city of Sweida and elsewhere on Saturday to demand the right to self-determination for the Druze minority.

They are the largest protests to have taken place since deadly clashes in the area last month. Some protesters waved Israeli flags to thank Israel for intervening on their side during heavy clashes in mid-July between Druze militias and armed tribal groups and government forces.

Many experts have described Israel’s unilateral intervention as being part of its goal of creating a permanent presence in Syria — a step towards a “Greater Israel.”

Saturday’s demonstration comes as Syria grapples with deep ethnic and religious divisions following the ousting of former president Bashar al-Assad last December.

Violence erupted in March along the coast and in July in Sweida, a city with a significant Druze population.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syrian war monitor, said the protesters expressed their rejection of the interim central government in Damascus and demanded that those responsible for atrocities against Druze be brought to justice.

The Observatory said some of the protesters called on Israel to intervene to support their demand of self-determination.

Rayyan Maarouf, who heads activist media collective Suwayda 24, said Saturday’s demonstration in Sweida was the largest since last month’s clashes and that there were similar gatherings in the nearby towns of Shahba and Salkhad.

He added this was the first time people had protested under the slogan of self-determination and described it as “an unprecedented change for the Druze in Syria.”

Clashes erupted on July 13 between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Sweida. Government forces intervened nominally to restore order, but ended up essentially siding with the Bedouins.

Israel launched dozens of air attacks in support of the Druze, including striking the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.