
Government forces withdraw from Druze-majority in Sweida
The withdrawal of government forces comes after a cease-fire agreement announced on Wednesday. Interim Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced overnight the transfer of "security responsibility to local factions" in Suwayda, the scene of communal clashes that have left more than 350 dead since Sunday.
"The Syrian authorities have withdrawn their military forces from the city of Suwayda and the entire province, and Druze fighters have deployed," SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Members of government forces told an AFP correspondent stationed on the outskirts of Suwayda province that they had received orders to withdraw shortly before midnight and had completed their pullout by dawn.
"The city of Sweida appears empty of all government forces," Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of the local website Suwayda 24, told AFP, adding that the situation was "catastrophic, and bodies litter the streets".
Clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters, whose relations have been tense for decades, broke out Sunday. The Syrian government deployed forces to the region on Tuesday with the stated goal of restoring order.
But SOHR, witnesses and Druze groups accused it of fighting the Druze factions. Israel, hostile to any Syrian military presence near its border and saying it wants to protect the Druze community, responded by bombing Damascus and other areas of the country.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Wednesday called on the Syrian government to leave the conflict zone in the south of the country to ease tensions with Israel.
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Nahar Net
20 minutes ago
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Syria's Druze fear for their future after sectarian clashes
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He and other officials have insisted that they are not targeting the Druze, but armed factions that are challenging state authority, namely those led by al-Hijri. Al-Sharaa also accused Israel of trying to exacerbate divisions in the country by launching airstrikes on government forces in the province, which Israel said was in defense of the Druze. The tensions have already created new challenges to forging national unity. Other minority groups — particularly the Kurdish forces controlling Syria's northeast, who have been in negotiations with Damascus to merge with the new national army — are reconsidering surrendering their weapons after seeing the violence in Sweida. A Syrian Druze who lived abroad for over 20 years was in Syria when Assad fell and celebrated with friends and family on the streets of Sweida. He quit his job to move back and be involved with the community. He joined in with people who waved Syria's new flag that symbolized the uprising, danced, and stepped on torn portraits of Assad. He said he wanted al-Sharaa to be successful, but now he doesn't see a peaceful future for Syria's different ethnic and religious groups with him at the helm. "In every household (in Sweida), someone has died," he told the AP. The Associated Press could not confirm that independently as there was no official death toll. However, it was a sentiment frequently shared by Syrians from Sweida. He asked to have his name and other identifying details withheld out of fear for his and his family's safety. "I think after the massacres that happened, there is not a single person in Sweida that wants anything to do with this government, unfortunately," he said. "This government butchered people, and butchered any possibility to (bring) reconciliation and harmonize the south."


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