Syria tensions escalate as clashes resumes in Sweida
Death toll rises to nearly 600
Renewed clashes broke out overnight between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, and government forces were preparing to deploy again to the area Friday after pulling out under a cease-fire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week, officials said.
Government security forces agreed with some of the Druze factions that they would re-enter the area to impose stability and protect state institutions, according to two Syrian officials who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Thousands of people remained displaced by the violence and the United Nations has been unable to bring in much-needed humanitarian and medical aid because of ongoing clashes.
Syrian government forces pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze religious minority that threatened to unravel the country’s fragile post-war transition.
Israel’s intervention
The conflict drew airstrikes against Syrian forces by the Israeli regime in defense of the Druze minority before most of the fighting was halted by a truce announced Wednesday that was mediated by the US, Turkey and Arab countries. Under that agreement, Druze factions and clerics would be left to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said Thursday.
The clashes initially began between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes Sunday before government forces intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up taking the Bedouins’ side against the Druze. The fighting killed hundreds of people over four days, with allegations that government-affiliated fighters executed Druze civilians and looted and burned homes.
Israel intervened, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in central Damascus in a major escalation of its involvement.
After the cease-fire and withdrawal of government forces, clashes once again flared between the Druze and Bedouin groups in parts of Sweida Province. State media reported Druze militias carried out revenge attacks against Bedouin communities, leading to a wave of displacement.
The governor of neighboring Daraa Province said in a statement that more than 1,000 families had been displaced to the area from Sweida as a result of “attacks on Bedouin tribes by outlaw groups.”
In Sweida “there are severe disruptions to supply routes, with insecurity and road closures blocking aid deliveries,” Adam Abdelmoula, UN Resident and Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator in Syria, said in a statement Friday.
The United Nations called for an end to the "bloodshed" and demanded an "independent" investigation of the violence, which has claimed nearly 600 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The renewed fighting raised questions over the authority of interim president, whose interim government also has difficult relations with the Kurdish minority in the northeast and the Alawite minority on the Mediterranean coast.