Death toll from southern Syria violence rises to 248
DAMASCUS : At least 248 people have been killed in southern Syria's Sweida province following several days of clashes that triggered the deployment of government forces, a war monitor said on Wednesday.
Sporadic fighting persisted despite the Syrian defence ministry announcing a ceasefire on Tuesday after government forces entered the Druze-majority city due to deadly clashes between local fighters and Bedouin tribes.
The toll includes 92 members of the Druze minority, 28 of them civilians, with 21 'killed in summary executions by government forces', according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
At least 138 Syrian security personnel were killed, along with 18 allied Bedouin fighters, the monitor said.
Clashes erupted on Sunday in the Druze-majority province of Sweida between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes following the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable merchant, which triggered tit-for-tat abductions, according to the Observatory.
Government forces announced their intervention in the province on Monday to break up the clashes and deployed to Sweida city on Tuesday.
However, according to the Observatory, witnesses and Druze factions, these forces intervened on the side of the Bedouins.
The violence included summary executions of civilians and the burning and looting of homes and shops, according to testimonies from residents, a local news network and the Observatory.
The war monitor reported clashes and intermittent shelling in Sweida on Wednesday.
An AFP correspondent inside the city saw around 30 bodies, including some security personnel and fighters in civilian clothing carrying weapons.
He added that columns of smoke were rising from some neighbourhoods amid the sound of intermittent shelling.
The local Suwayda 24 news network reported that the city had been hit by 'heavy shelling with heavy artillery and mortar shells' since Wednesday morning.
The Syrian defence ministry accused 'outlaw groups' of attacking its forces inside the city, saying they are now 'continuing to respond to the sources of fire'.
The violence is the largest since deadly clashes between government forces and Druze fighters near Damascus and in Sweida province killed over 100 people in April and May.
After the December overthrow of president Bashar al-Assad, who long presented himself as a protector of minorities, the new Islamist authorities and Druze factions discussed potential integration into government ranks but have not reached a full agreement.
Israel, which had previously said it would protect the Druze in Syria, reiterated its warning to Damascus on Wednesday.
Israel may 'raise the level of responses against the (Syrian) regime if the message is not understood'.
Israel previously warned Syrian authorities that it would not allow their forces to be present in southern Syria.
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