Clashes rage in Druze region as Syria struggles to enforce ceasefire
Khalil Ashawi
and
Laila Bassam
, Reuters
Tribal and bedouin fighters cross Walga town as they mobilise amid clashes with Druze gunmen, near the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria on July 19, 2025.
Photo:
ABDULAZIZ KETAZ/AFP
Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government
struggles 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.
Late on Saturday (US Time), the interior ministry said
clashes in Sweida city
had been halted and the area cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment.
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
.
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.
The 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 said it was 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 Sharaa's government, which has pledged to rule for all citizens, while Israel said the government was 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 Assad's elite belonged.
In a statement on Saturday (US time), the Syrian presidency announced an immediate ceasefire and urged an immediate end to hostilities.
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.
Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa upon his arrival for a meeting with the French president at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris on May 7, 2025 (L) and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist group's chief Abu Mohamed al-Jolani (now Ahmed al-Sharaa) in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province at the border with Turkey, on February 7, 2023.
Photo:
LUDOVIC MARIN, OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP
Sharaa appeared to blame Druze gunmen for the latest clashes, accusing them of revenge attacks against Bedouins.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said 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 Friday (US Time) that Syria and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire.
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 Assad fell, and said it wanted areas of southern Syria near its border to remain demilitarised.
On Friday (US Time), an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to Sweida for two days.
Mansour Namour, a resident of a village near Sweida city, said mortar shells were still landing near his home on Saturday afternoon (US Time), 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," director of the hospital Omar Obeid said.
- Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
RNZ News
13 hours ago
- RNZ News
Trump presses Powell to cut rates during tense visit to Fed
By Ann Saphir , Jasper Ward and Kanishka Singh , Reuters Donald Trump and Jerome Powell. Photo: AFP President Donald Trump locked horns with Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell during a rare presidential visit to the US central bank, criticising the cost of renovating two historical buildings at its headquarters and pressing the case for lower interest rates. Trump, who called Powell a "numbskull" earlier this week for failing to heed the White House's demand for a large reduction in borrowing costs, wrapped up his visit to the Fed's $2.5 billion building project in Washington by saying he did not intend to fire Powell, as he has frequently suggested he would . "To do so is a big move and I just don't think it's necessary," Trump told reporters after the visit. In a post on his Truth Social media site, Trump later said of the renovation, "it is what it is and, hopefully, it will be finished ASAP. The cost overruns are substantial but, on the positive side, our country is doing very well and can afford just about anything." The visibly tense interaction at the Fed's massive construction site marked an escalation of White House pressure on the central bank and Trump's efforts to get Powell to "do the right thing" on rates. It happened less than a week before the central bank's 19 policymakers are due to gather for a two-day rate-setting meeting, where they are widely expected to leave their benchmark interest rate in the 4.25-4.50 percent range. The president has repeatedly demanded Powell slash rates by 3 percentage points or more. "I'd love him to lower interest rates," Trump said as he wrapped up the tour, as Powell stood by, his face expressionless. US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell holding a press conference in Washington, DC, on September 18, 2024. Photo: AFP / Mandel Ngan Powell typically spends the Thursday afternoon before a rate-setting meeting doing back-to-back calls with Fed bank presidents as part of his preparations for the session. The encounter between the two men became heated as Trump told reporters the project was now estimated to cost $3.1 billion. "I am not aware of that," Powell said, shaking his head. Trump handed him a piece of paper, which Powell examined. "You just added in a third building," the Fed chief said, noting that the Martin Building had been completed five years ago. White House budget director Russell Vought and Trump's deputy chief of staff, James Blair, who have spearheaded criticism of the renovation as overly costly and ostentatious, later told reporters they still have questions about the project. The two men - who joined Trump during the visit - have suggested poor oversight and potential fraud in connection with it. Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott, a Republican who sent Powell a letter on Wednesday (US Time) demanding answers to his own questions about the renovation, also took part in the visit. Elevated by Trump to the top Fed job in 2018 and then reappointed by former President Joe Biden four years later, Powell last met with the current president in March when Trump summoned him to the White House to press him to lower rates. The visit on Thursday (US Time) took place as Trump battles to deflect attention from a political crisis over his administration's refusal to release files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reversing a campaign promise. Epstein died in 2019. The Fed, in letters to Vought and lawmakers backed up by documents posted on its website, said the project - the first full rehab of the two buildings since they were built nearly a century ago - ran into unexpected challenges including toxic materials abatement and higher-than-estimated costs for materials and labour. Speaking outside of the construction site, Trump said there was "no tension" at his meeting with Powell and that they had a productive conversation about rates. President Donald Trump says there was no tension at his meeting with US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell. Photo: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource Ahead of Trump's visit, Fed staff escorted a small group of reporters around the two construction sites. They wove around cement mixers and construction machines, and spoke over the sound of drills, banging and saws. Fed staff pointed out security features, including blast-resistant windows, that they said were a significant driver of costs in addition to tariffs and escalations in material and labour costs. The project started in mid-2022 and is on track to be completed by 2027, with the move-in planned for March of 2028. A visit to the roof of the Eccles Building, a point of particular scrutiny by critics like Scott, who has complained about "rooftop garden terraces," revealed an impressive view of the Lincoln Memorial and the National Mall, according to the pool report. Staff explained that rooftop seating, although inexpensive, had been removed because of the appearance of it being an amenity and was one of only two deviations from the original plan. The other was the scrapping of a couple of planned fountains. Market reaction to Trump's visit was subdued. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury bonds ticked higher after data showed new jobless claims dropped in the most recent week, signalling a stable labour market not in need of support from a Fed rate cut. The S&P 500 equities index closed largely flat on the day. Trump's criticism of Powell and flirtation with firing him have previously upset financial markets and threatened a key underpinning of the global financial system - that central banks are independent and free from political meddling. His trip contrasts with a handful of other documented presidential visits to the Fed. Then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt visited the central bank in 1937 to dedicate the newly-built headquarters, one of the two buildings now being renovated. Most recently, former President George W. Bush went there in 2006 to attend the swearing-in of Ben Bernanke as Fed chief. - Reuters
RNZ News
19 hours ago
- RNZ News
Britain and India sign free trade pact during Modi visit
By Alistair Smout and Manoj Kuma , Reuters Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File photo) Photo: Kabir Jhangiani / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. Talks on the trade pact were concluded in May after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by US President Donald Trump. The agreement between the world's fifth and sixth largest economies aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds by 2040. It is Britain's biggest trade deal since it left the European Union in 2020 but its impact will be a fraction of the effect of leaving the orbit of its closest trading partner. It is India's biggest strategic partnership with an advanced economy, and it could provide a template for a long-mooted deal with the EU and for talks with other regions. Both sides hailed as historic a deal which will take effect following a ratification process, likely within a year, after which firms such as whisky distiller Diageo and carmakers including BMW, Nissan, Aston Martin and Tata-owned Jaguar Land Rover could benefit from lower duties. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there would be huge benefits for both countries, making trade cheaper, quicker and easier. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Photo: STEPHANIE LECOCQ / AFP "We've entered a new global era, and that is one that requires us to step up, not to stand aside... by building deeper partnerships and alliances," Starmer said in a statement next to Modi at his Chequers country residence. Modi called the agreement "a blueprint for our shared prosperity," highlighting how Indian goods from textiles to jewelry and seafood would secure better market access. The countries also agreed a partnership covering areas such as defence and climate, and aim to strengthen co-operation on tackling crime. Modi spent nearly three hours with Starmer before going to meet King Charles at his Sandringham Estate. Under the trade agreement, tariffs on Scotch whisky will drop to 75 percent from 150 percent immediately, and slide to 40 percent over the next decade. Tariffs on drinks such as brandy and rum will be cut to 110 percent initially and end up at 75 percent. On cars, India will cut duties to 10 percent within five years from current levels of up to 11 percent under a quota system that will be gradually liberalised. In return, Indian manufacturers will gain access to the British market for electric and hybrid vehicles, also under a quota system. Under the deal, 99 percent of Indian exports to Britain will benefit from zero duties, including textiles, and Britain will have reductions on 90 percent of its tariff lines, with the average tariff UK firms face dropping to 3 percent from 15 percent. But the projected boost to British economic output, of 4.8 billion pounds a year by 2040, is small compared to Britain's gross domestic product of 2.6 trillion pounds in 2024. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has forecast that UK exports and imports will be about 15 percent lower in the long run than if Britain had stayed in the EU. Britain's Labour government, in power for a year, has launched a reset of ties with the EU to smooth trade friction and won some tariff relief from the United States. "In an era of rising protectionism, today's announcement sends a powerful signal," said Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry. The Confederation of Indian Industry called it a "strong foundation for deeper market access." The deal will facilitate easier access for temporary business visitors although visas are not covered. The sides also agreed that workers will no longer have to make social security contributions in both India and Britain while on temporary postings to the other. British firms will be able to access India's procurement market for projects in sectors such as clean energy, and the trade deal also covers services sectors such as insurance. India did not manage to secure an exemption from Britain's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism - which could levy higher taxes on polluters from 2027 - as part of the deal. - Reuters
RNZ News
a day ago
- RNZ News
Thai fighter jet bombs Cambodian targets as border battle escalates
By Panarat Thepgumpanat , Chantha Lach and Panu Wongcha-um , Reuters Royal Thai Army soldiers are pictured on armoured vehicles on a road in Chachoengsao province. Photo: LILLIAN SUWANRUMPHA / AFP Thailand scrambled an F-16 fighter jet to bomb targets in Cambodia after artillery volleys from both sides killed at least 11 civilians, as border tension boiled over into rare armed conflict between the Southeast Asian countries. Both blamed each other for starting a morning clash at a disputed area of the border, which quickly escalated from small arms fire to heavy shelling in at least six locations 209 kilometres (130 miles) apart along a frontier where sovereignty has been disputed for more than a century. Thailand positioned six F-16 fighter jets in an uncommon combat deployment, one of which was mobilised to strike a Cambodian military target, among measures Cambodia's foreign ministry called "reckless and brutal military aggression". Thailand's military said the use of air power was to strike with precision. The worst fighting between the countries in 13 years came after Thailand on Wednesday (local time) recalled its ambassador to Phnom Penh and expelled Cambodia's envoy, in response to a second Thai soldier losing a limb to a landmine that Bangkok alleged had been laid recently by rival troops. The two countries have been braced for conflict since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish, with troops reinforced on both sides of the border amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. Thailand said there were 12 fatalities in three Thai provinces, 11 of them civilians including an eight-year-old boy. Authorities said 31 people were injured on Thursday. The number of Cambodian casualties was unclear. "We condemn this - using heavy weapons without a clear target, outside of conflict zones... the use of force and did not adhere to international law," Thailand's acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai told reporters. "We remain committed to peaceful means and there should be discussions, but what happened was a provocation and we had to defend ourselves." Thailand's Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin told reporters a hospital was hit by shelling in Surin province, an attack he said should be considered "a war crime". Cambodian government, defence and foreign ministry officials at a press conference gave no indication of fatalities sustained or any estimate of the number of people evacuated. In a letter to Pakistan, the current president of the United Nations Security Council, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet, urged the body to convene a meeting to stop what he called "unprovoked and premeditated military aggression" by Thailand in violation of international law. As clashes spread to different border areas, Thai villagers including children and the elderly fled to concrete shelters fortified with sandbags and car tires. "How many rounds have been fired? It's countless," an unidentified woman in Surin province told the Thai Public Broadcasting Service while hiding in the shelter as gunfire and explosions were heard in the background. Video footage showed a plume of thick black smoke rising from a gas station in the neighbouring Sisaket province, as firefighters rushed to extinguish the blaze. Thailand has evacuated more than 40,000 people from border areas, moving many to temporary shelters, where elderly people and small children gathered on floor mats as authorities prepared meals and unloaded food and bottled water from trucks. "I'm worried about my children," said Suphap Wongwai, an evacuee in Surin province. "My children are scared and crying." Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over jurisdiction of various undemarcated points along their 817km (508-mile) land border, with ownership of the ancient Hindu temples Ta Moan Thom and the 11th century Preah Vihear central to the disputes. Preah Vihear was awarded to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice in 1962 but tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list it as a UNESCO World Heritage site. That led to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths. Cambodia in June said it had asked the ICJ to resolve its disputes with Thailand, which says it has never recognised the court's jurisdiction and prefers a bilateral approach. Thailand's use of a fighter jet underlines its military advantage over Cambodia in terms of size and range of defence hardware. The clashes have caused jitters in the region, with the Philippines and Vietnam calling for restraint and China expressing willingness to play a role in promoting de-escalation. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Thailand and Cambodia are members, said he would speak to leaders of both countries. "The least we can expect from them is to just stand down and hopefully to try and enter into negotiations," Anwar said. The clashes erupted hours after a downgrade in diplomatic relations between the two countries following a series of landmine injuries to Thai soldiers patrolling border areas. Thailand accused Cambodia of placing the mines recently, which Phnom Penh dismissed as baseless. De-mining groups estimate as many as 4-6 million landmines remain in Cambodia following years of civil war. - Reuters
