More than 1,000 dead in week of fighting in Syria's Sweida

Middle East Eye

5 hours ago

More than a thousand people are believed to have been killed in a week of fighting in Syria's Sweida, even as an uneasy truce reigned across the governorate on Sunday.
Humanitarian convoys were readying to enter Sweida to ease the impact of days of sectarian violence that broke out last weekend between Syrian Bedouin, Druze and government forces.
Since midnight, "Sweida has been relatively calm", the Syrian Observatory on Human Rights (SOHR) reported, saying more than a thousand people had been killed over the past week.
The deaths included 336 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians, 194 of whom were "summarily executed by members of the Defense and Interior Ministries".
Also among the dead were 342 members of government security forces and 21 Bedouin, including three civilians, who were "summarily executed by Druze fighters".
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In addition, 15 members of government forces were killed in Israeli strikes, according to the SOHR.
The observatory said security forces had blocked roads leading to the province on Sunday to prevent the arrival of factional fighters.
The interior ministry announced overnight that the city had been evacuated of all tribal fighters and that the clashes had ceased following President Ahmed al-Sharaa's announcement of a ceasefire on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the Syrian Council of Tribes and Clans told Al-Jazeera that the fighters had left the city "in response to the presidency's call and in accordance with the terms of the agreement".
Residents have been left confined to their homes without electricity and water, while food supplies are scarce.
The US special envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, said on Sunday that the country was at a "critical moment", calling for "peace and dialogue to prevail".
"All factions must lay down their arms," he wrote on X.
Fighting between Druze factions, Bedouin groups and troops loyal to Sharaa's administration has rocked the region since last weekend, exacerbated by Israeli air strikes.
The Druze of Sweida had largely stayed out of Syria's 14-year civil war, and the governorate saw protests over living conditions in the last few years of former President Bashar al-Assad's rule.
Following his ouster in December, many Druze have remained wary of the new government led by Sharaa, the former leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate that carried out sectarian attacks on the community during the war.
Although Sharaa has rejected his previous affiliation and attempted to rebuild ties, several groups in Sweida have actively opposed his government.
Israel has also spent several days attacking Syria, citing the defence of the Druze community.
On Saturday, Washington declared it had brokered a truce between Israel and Syria to avoid further escalation.
Israel had bombed government positions in Sweida and Damascus earlier in the week, with some targeting the Syrian defence ministry, military headquarters and the vicinity of the presidential palace.