logo
Clashes rage in Druze region as Syria struggles to enforce ceasefire

Clashes rage in Druze region as Syria struggles to enforce ceasefire

Straits Times19-07-2025
Find out what's new on ST website and app.
Smoke rising in the city of Sweida in southern Syria's Druze majority province on July 19, 2025.
DAMASCUS - Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on July 19, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled to implement a ceasefire.
Reuters reporters heard gunfire from inside the city of Sweida and saw shells land in nearby villages. There were no immediate, confirmed reports of casualties.
The government had said security forces were deploying in the southern region to try to keep peace, and urged all parties to stop fighting after nearly a week of factional bloodshed in which hundreds have been killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said clashes since last week around Sweida had killed at least 940 people. Reuters could not independently verify the toll.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said 'Arab and American' mediation had helped restore calm, before the clashes escalated. He criticised Israel for airstrikes during the week.
Violence in Druze region challenges Damascus
The fighting is the latest challenge to the control of Sharaa's Islamist-dominated government, which took over after rebels toppled autocratic president Bashar al-Assad in December.
It started last week as clashes between the Druze - a religious minority native to southern Syria, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and parts of Lebanon and Jordan - and Syrian Bedouin tribes.
Government forces then arrived to try to quell tensions, clashing with Druze gunmen and attacking the Druze community.
July 19's violence once again pitted Druze against Bedouin, witnesses said.
The fighting has drawn in neighbouring Israel, which carried out airstrikes in southern Syria and on the Defence Ministry in Damascus this week while government forces were fighting with the Druze. Israel says it is protecting the Druze, who also form a significant minority in Israel.
But Israel and Washington differ over Syria. The US supports a centralised Syria under Mr Sharaa's government, which has pledged to rule for all citizens, while Israel says the government is dominated by jihadists and a danger to minorities.
In March, Syria's military was involved in mass killings of members of the Alawite minority, to which much of Mr Assad's elite belonged.
Syrian security forces deploy in Walga town near Sweida, Syria on July 19, 2025.
PHOTO: AFP
Israel-Syria tensions
In a statement on July 19, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate ceasefire and urged an immediate end to hostilities. The interior ministry said internal forces had begun deploying.
Mr Sharaa said Syria would not be a 'testing ground for partition, secession, or sectarian incitement'.
'The Israeli intervention pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability,' he said in a televised speech.
Mr Sharaa appeared to blame Druze gunmen for the latest clashes, accusing them of revenge attacks against Bedouins.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Mr Sharaa was siding with the perpetrators.
'In al-Shara's Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority – Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian,' he posted on X.
US envoy Tom Barrack announced on July 18 that Syria and Israel
had agreed to a ceasefire .
Bedouin tribal gunmen engage in combat with Druze fighters in a neighbourhood in Sweida in Syria's southern province, despite a ceasefire announcement on July 19.
PHOTO: AFP
Mr Barrack, who is both US ambassador to Turkey and Washington's Syria envoy, urged Druze, Bedouins and Sunnis, together with other minorities, to 'build a new and united Syrian identity'.
Israel has attacked Syrian military facilities in the seven months since Mr Assad fell, and says it wants areas of southern Syria near its border to remain demilitarised.
On July 18, an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to Sweida for two days.
Sweida hospital fills with casualties
Mr Mansour Namour, a resident of a village near Sweida city, said mortar shells were still landing near his home on the afternoon of July 19, and that at least 22 people had been wounded.
A doctor in Sweida said a local hospital was full of bodies and wounded people from days of violence.
'All the injuries are from bombs, some people with their chests wounded. There are also injuries to limbs from shrapnel,' said Dr Omar Obeid, director of the hospital. REUTERS
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Trump says he thinks US will have a ‘very fair deal' on trade with China
Trump says he thinks US will have a ‘very fair deal' on trade with China

Straits Times

timea few seconds ago

  • Straits Times

Trump says he thinks US will have a ‘very fair deal' on trade with China

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox China is facing an Aug 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Mr Trump's administration. WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on July 30y that talks were moving along with China and he expected the two sides would reach a fair deal on trade. 'We're moving along with China. We're doing fine with China,' Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. 'I think it's going to work out very well. We're right in step. I think we're going to have a very fair deal with China.' US and Chinese officials met in Stockholm on July 28 for more than five hours of talks aimed at resolving economic disputes with a goal of extending their truce on a trade war by three months. China is facing an Aug 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Mr Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Mr Trump's administration has agreed trade deals with the European Union, Britain and Japan. It is negotiating with multiple other countries to achieve more. REUTERS Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Water supply issues during Toa Payoh blaze affected firefighting operations; SCDF investigating Singapore 3 taken to hospital after fire in Marsiling flat Singapore School, parents on alert after vape peddlers approach primary school pupil Singapore Tampines, Toa Payoh BTO flats most popular among first-time home buyers in July HDB launch Sport Leon Marchand sets first world record at World Aquatics C'ships in Singapore Singapore Jail, fine for man linked to case involving 3 bank accounts that received over $680m in total Singapore Provision shop owner who raped 11-year-old gets more than 14 years' jail Singapore Escape, discover, connect: Where new memories are made

Trump hits Brazil with 50% tariffs, excludes aircraft, OJ, energy
Trump hits Brazil with 50% tariffs, excludes aircraft, OJ, energy

Straits Times

timea few seconds ago

  • Straits Times

Trump hits Brazil with 50% tariffs, excludes aircraft, OJ, energy

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday slapped a 50% tariff on most Brazilian goods to fight what he has called a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro, but softened the blow by excluding sectors such as aircraft, energy and orange juice. That came as a relief for many in Brasilia, who since Trump announced the tariff had been urging protections for major exporters caught in the crossfire. Shares of planemaker Embraer and pulpmaker Suzano rose. "We're not facing the worst-case scenario," Brazilian Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron told reporters. "It's a more benign outcome than it could have been." In a factsheet about Trump's executive order on Wednesday, the White House tied the tariffs to Brazil's prosecution of Bolsonaro, who is standing trial on charges of plotting a coup to overturn his 2022 electoral loss. The executive order came as the U.S. also announced sanctions on a Brazilian Supreme Court justice overseeing Bolsonaro's trial, accusing the judge of authorizing arbitrary pre-trial detentions and suppressing freedom of expression. Still, Trump's executive order formalizing a 50% tariff excluded dozens of key Brazilian exports to the United States, including civil aircraft, pig iron, precious metals, wood pulp, energy and fertilizers. Among the top concerns in the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva were aircraft produced by Embraer, which exports 45% of its commercial aircraft and 70% of its executive jets to the United States. Analysts had also warned of a serious potential impact on Suzano, one the world's largest wood pulp producers. Embraer shares rose 11% in Sao Paulo and Suzano gained over 1% in afternoon trading. Former Brazilian trade secretary Welber Barral warned it was too soon to celebrate, however. He estimated that the list of Brazilian products exported to the U.S. comprises approximately 3,000 items, and only a fraction of these received exclusions. "There will be an impact," he said of the tariffs. Wednesday's executive order did not include exemptions for beef or coffee, two key exports to the United States, he noted. Brazilian meatpacking lobby Abiec, which represents beef producers including JBS and Marfrig, did not immediately comment on Wednesday's executive order. On Tuesday, the group said the new tariffs would make sales to the U.S. "inviable." Despite language exempting "energy and energy products" from the tariffs, energy companies operating in Brazil suspended oil shipments to the United States, citing uncertainty, industry group IBP told Reuters. REUTERS

Trump says he thinks US will have a 'very fair deal' on trade with China
Trump says he thinks US will have a 'very fair deal' on trade with China

Straits Times

timea few seconds ago

  • Straits Times

Trump says he thinks US will have a 'very fair deal' on trade with China

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox A U.S. and Chinese flag flutter outside Sweden's government offices \"Rosenbad\" in Stockholm, Sweden, July 29, 2025, ahead of the second day of trade talks between China and the U.S., TT News Agency/via REUTERS/File Photo WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that talks were moving along with China and he expected the two sides would reach a fair deal on trade. "We're moving along with China. We're doing fine with China," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think it's going to work out very well. We're right in step. I think we're going to have a very fair deal with China." U.S. and Chinese officials met in Stockholm on Monday for more than five hours of talks aimed at resolving economic disputes with a goal of extending their truce on a trade war by three months. China is facing an August 12 deadline to reach a durable tariff agreement with Trump's administration, after Beijing and Washington reached preliminary deals in May and June to end escalating tit-for-tat tariffs and a cut-off of rare earth minerals. Trump's administration has agreed trade deals with the European Union, Britain and Japan. It is negotiating with multiple other countries to achieve more. REUTERS

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store