Clashes continue in Sweida as ceasefire struggles to hold
Government forces were redeployed on Saturday to Sweida to halt the renewed fighting that had erupted late Thursday.
Shortly after the announcement, Syria's interior ministry said the fighting had stopped and that Sweida had been cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters. However, several clashes were reported to have taken place in the predominantly Druze region of Sweida.
Clashes began last Sunday between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Syria's southern Sweida province. Government forces intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up taking the Bedouins' side against the Druze.
On Thursday, government forces largely withdrew from the southern province of Sweida, a day after Israel launched several strikes on Damascus, citing a need to protect the Druze community.
However, shortly after, state media reported that Druze militants had launched retaliatory attacks on the Bedouin communities.
In his second televised address since the fighting started, al-Sharaa blamed the conflict's escalation between 'lawless groups on one side and Bedouin communities on the other, leading to an unprecedented deterioration of the situation."
He had urged all parties to "fully commit" to the ceasefire.
"Everyone must understand that this moment requires unity and full cooperation in order to overcome the hardships we all face and to protect our country and land from foreign interference and internal strife," he said on Saturday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights report at least 940 people have been killed since clashes erupted on Sunday. Meanwhile, the UN estimated that roughly 80,000 people have been displaced.
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