A week of violence in Syria's Druze heartland: What we know - Region

Al-Ahram Weekly

4 days ago

Syria's Druze heartland saw a shaky calm on Sunday after a week of violence in Sweida province that killed more than 1,000 people, the latest sectarian bloodshed since Islamists ousted longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.
The Druze and Sunni Bedouin rivals have been at loggerheads for decades, but clashes that erupted last Sunday quickly spiralled, drawing in the Islamist government and armed tribes from other parts of Syria, and sparking a regional crisis as Israel intervened.
Syria's Islamist authorities, who toppled Assad in December, have been accused of not doing enough to protect the country's religious minorities, particularly after massacres in Syria's Alawite coastal heartland and previous violence involving the Druze.
Israel says it seeks to defend the Druze and has said it would not accept the presence of forces of the Islamist-led government in the country's south. It bombed government forces this week in Sweida and Damascus to force their withdrawal.
Witnesses, Druze factions and a monitor have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses including summary executions when they entered Sweida days ago.
Ceasefire deal
Early Saturday, US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa had "agreed to a ceasefire" backed by neighbours Turkey and Jordan, urging "Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons".
Hours later, Sharaa in a televised address announced an immediate ceasefire in Sweida and renewed a pledge to protect Syria's minorities.
The ceasefire involves the deployment of government security forces to Sweida province, and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
It also includes "work to secure all detained Bedouin residents in areas controlled by outlaw groups", the interior ministry said, referring to Druze fighters, as well as the exchange of detainees.
On the ground
On Sunday, AFP correspondents outside Sweida city and medics inside the provincial capital reported hearing no clashes.
The interior ministry said overnight that the city was "evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted".
Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa told a press conference on Saturday evening that the deployment of security forces inside Sweida city would happen at a later stage.
Death toll
The Observatory said the death toll in the week of violence had topped 1,000, including 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians from the religious minority group, 194 of whom were "summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel".
The dead also included 342 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians "summarily executed by Druze fighters". Another 15 government forces were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory said.
The United Nations migration agency said the violence had displaced more than 128,000 people.
International actors
The US administration has forged ties with the new Islamist president despite his past links with Al-Qaeda, and has been critical of its Israeli ally's recent air strikes on Syria, seeking a way out for Sharaa's government.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday called on the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the south.
He called for the government to "hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks".
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the minority, though it has recently been involved in indirect dialogue with Syria's authorities, despite the two countries being technically at war.
Israel on Saturday dismissed Sharaa's renewed pledge to protect minorities, and a day earlier said it was sending aid to the Druze community in Sweida, including food parcels and medical supplies.
The European Union on Saturday welcomed the US-brokered ceasefire, saying "now is the time for dialogue and for advancing a truly inclusive transition."
France urged "all parties to strictly adhere" to the ceasefire.
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