‘Tense calm' returns to Syria's Sweida province after week of deadly violence

The Guardian

5 days ago

An uneasy calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, after fighters withdrew following a week of violence estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people.
Local people told news agencies the area was calm after Syria's Islamist-led government said Bedouin fighters had left the predominantly Druze city.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Sweida had been experiencing 'a cautious calm since the early hours of Sunday morning', but warned of 'the deterioration of the humanitarian situation' including a severe shortage of basic medical supplies.
The SOHR reported on Sunday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in armed clashes, bombardment, extrajudicial executions and Israeli airstrikes since the violence in Sweida province began a week ago.
One local resident, dentist Kenan Azzam, told Reuters on Sunday morning the situation was one of 'a tense calm' but people were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. 'The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,' he said.
AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported there were no sounds of fighting, adding humanitarian convoys were preparing to enter the Druze-majority town.
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian organisation announced they were sending 32 trucks to Sweida loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. Syrian state media SANA said the health ministry was also sending a convoy of trucks.
The violence was triggered by a dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze, who are a minority in wider Syria, which prompted government forces to intervene. Druze fighters resisted their entry into the province and violence escalated, turning into days of terror for local residents, including civilians. In response, Israel, which has vowed to protect the Druze community, launched airstrikes on Syria's defence ministry in Damascus and dozens of military targets in the south of the country.
A ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel had been announced by the US early on Saturday to prevent further Israeli military intervention.
Early on Sunday, the US stepped up calls for an end to the fighting. 'All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,' the US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, wrote on X. 'Syria stands at a critical juncture – peace and dialogue must prevail – and prevail now.'
A few hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio issued a warning to Syria's new government, whose forces have been accused by Druze factions of committing abuses, including summary executions, when they entered Sweida earlier in the week.
Rubio wrote on X: 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of Isis [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Isis and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres. And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.'
Two government forces members posted sectarian hate speech against Druze, according to private social media seen by the Guardian's correspondent in Beirut.
One posted a video of him and two other soldiers driving through Sweida laughing as he said: 'We are on our way to distribute aid,' while brandishing a machete to the camera. He filmed himself inside a house in Sweida ripping a picture of Druze spiritual leaders off a wall and trampling it with his boots.
The last week has been the worst outbreak of violence since March, when 1,500 mostly Alawite citizens were massacred in revenge for a failed attack by supporters of the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, who came from the sect.
The second round of sectarian violence has tempered international hopes for the new Syrian government, which came to power last December after the sudden fall of the Assad regime. Western governments, the US, the UK and the EU, lifted sanctions in a bid to aid Syria's battered economy and economic reconstruction, after 13 years of civil war and repression by the Assad regime, which killed more than half a million people, leaving 90% of the population in poverty.
The EU said on Saturday it was 'appalled by the hundreds of victims' of the recent violence, including that 'reportedly perpetrated by several armed groups against unarmed civilians'. In a statement, the EU foreign service urged 'all parties to immediately stop all acts of violence, to protect all civilians without distinction, and to take immediate steps to prevent incitement and sectarian discourse'.
The EU also called on 'Israel and all other foreign actors to fully respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity'.
Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday announced a ceasefire in Sweida and renewed his pledge to protect Syria's ethnic and religious minorities.
Al-Sharaa, who was more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying they 'cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country's affairs and restoring security'.
The interior ministry said overnight that Sweida city was 'evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted'.
A spokesman for Syria's tribal and clan council told Al-Jazeera late on Saturday that fighters had left the city 'in response to the call of the presidency and the terms of the agreement'.