Syrian Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri accused the interim government on May 1 of carrying out a "genocidal attack" on his community following two days of sectarian violence that left 100 dead. Al-Hijri said: "We no longer trust an organization that claims to be a government. A government does not kill its people through takfiri gangs to which it belongs." Takfiri is a popular pejorative used by Shi'ites and Druze for Sunni militants. Clashes broke out in the Damascus suburbs of Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, and armed residents began to mobilize in the Druze-majority southern city of Sweida (Suwayda) before a truce was reached. (Al-Monitor, Al-Jazeera)

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, warned April 25 of grave consequences for the country's future without genuine political inclusion and urgent economic support for a successful political transition. During a briefing to the Security Council, Pedersen noted the legacies of misrule, conflict and exclusion in Syria, stating:

This means that the situation is inherently still extremely fragile. The vital ingredients to address this fragility are clear: we need genuine political inclusion so that all Syrians can participate meaningfully in shaping their country's political future, along with countering extremism and terrorism; and real support from the international community to give this transition a chance to succeed against great odds.

A UN report released on March 5 found that armed groups operating in the Haut Oubangui region of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been carrying out attacks against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees, resulting in grave human rights violations. The report, prepared jointly by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), mainly attributes these attacks to Wagner Ti Azande (WTA), a militia affiliated with the national army.

Up to 70 have been killed in fighting between forces of Syria's transitional government and apparent loyalists of ousted dictator Bashar Assad. The clashes began March 6 when 15 members of the new government's security forces were killed in ambushes near the town of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia, heartland of the Alawite minority and stronghold of support for the old regime. (Al Jazeera, BBC News) The transition government had been mobilizing troops to the region since two members of the security forcres were killed in a similar ambush in Latakia's Daatur district two days earlier. (AFP)

A ceasefire agreement was reached Dec. 2 between two warring tribes in Pakistan's restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province following weeks of clashes that left 130 people dead in Kurram district, along the border with Afghanistan. A Grand Jirga of tribal leaders was called to mediate the truce. The violence exploded Nov. 21, when a convoy of Shi'ite pilgrims traveling to a shrine in Peshawar was ambushed by armed assailants, killing at least 42. The ensuing clashes pitted members of the mostly Shi'ite Bagan tribe against their Sunni neighbors, the Alizai, with shops and homes ransacked and whole villages displaced. A land dispute between the two tribes had also caused clashes that led to 50 fatalities in September.

The interim leader of Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, issued a stern condemnation Sept. 14 of recent attacks on Sufi shrines across the country. Bangladesh has experienced a recent rise of extremist violence targeting religious and cultural sites, including both Sufi shrines and Hindu temples. Yunus assured the public that law enforcement agencies have been instructed to take immediate action to protect these religious and cultural landmarks, promising that those behind the attacks will be held accountable.

Nine people were killed, including three attackers, and 30 more wounded as gunmen opened fire on worshippers outside a Shi'ite mosque in Wadi al-Kabir district of Muscat, the capital of usually peaceful Oman. The assailants reportedly shouted as they fired, "You non-believers, this is your end!" Four Pakistani nationals and a police officer were among those killed. The Islamic State group (ISIS) claimed responsibility the July 16 attack, which occurred during the Shi'ite holy month of Ashura. ISIS released a video showing three men holding rifles and their black flag, boasting of "the targeting of the Rafida," a pejorative term for Shi'ites. (The National, BBC News, France24, AFP, JP, MEMRI)

Inadequate protections by the de facto Taliban authorities in Afghanistan continue to leave the Shi'ite Hazara community at risk of being targeted in atrocities that may amount to war crimes, according a report released May 3 by Human Rights Watch. The report emphasized the threat from the self-declared Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), which continues to carry out attacks targeting Hazara mosques, schools and neighborhoods. In the most recent such attack, on April 29, a presumed ISKP militant opened fire on worshippers at a Hazara mosque at Guzara, in western Herat province, killing six, including a child.