Latest news with #sectarian clashes
CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
In Syria's Sweida, the stench of death still lingers days after sectarian bloodshed
Residents walk past a burned-out military vehicle after last week's sectarian clashes in the Druze-majority town of Sweida, Syria, on Friday, July 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki) SWEIDA, Syria (AP) — The stench of decaying bodies hangs heavy in the streets of the provincial capital in Syria's southern province of Sweida, where fighting recently erupted. Once bustling roads now lie eerily silent, with only a few people passing by. In some areas, the destruction is overwhelming, with buildings and cars charred black. At a bank branch, shattered glass covered the floor as an alarm blared nonstop. Walls are emblazoned with slogans graffitied by both sides in the recent conflict. The devastation came after violent clashes broke out two weeks ago, sparked by tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin clans and fighters from the Druze religious minority. The fighting killed hundreds of people and threatened to unravel Syria's fragile postwar transition. Syrian government forces intervened, ostensibly to end the fighting, but effectively sided with the clans. Some government fighters reportedly robbed and executed Druze civilians. Associated Press journalists from outside the city were able to enter Sweida on Friday for the first time since the violence started on July 13. With a ceasefire largely holding, residents of Sweida are trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. 'Snipers hit him' At the main hospital, where bodies of those killed in the fighting were piled up for days, workers were scrubbing the floor, but the smell lingered. Manal Harb was there with her wounded 19-year-old son, Safi Dargham, a first-year engineering student, who was shot while volunteering at the overwhelmed hospital. 'Snipers hit him in front of the hospital,' she said. 'We are civilians and have no weapons.' Safi sustained injuries to his elbow, behind his ear, and his leg. Harb says he may lose his arm if he doesn't receive urgent treatment. Harb's husband, Khaled Dargham, was killed when armed men stormed their home, shot him, and set the house on fire. She said the armed men also stole their phones and other belongings. An emergency room nurse who gave only her nickname, Em Hassib ('mother of Hassib'), said she had remained in the hospital with her children throughout the conflict. She alleged that at one point, government fighters who were brought to the hospital for treatment opened fire, killing a police officer guarding the hospital and wounding another. The AP could not independently verify her claim. She said the bodies had piled up for days with no one to remove them, becoming a medical hazard. Sectarian tensions simmer as Druze resist disarmament Disturbing videos and reports from Sweida surfaced showing Druze civilians being humiliated and executed during the conflict, sometimes accompanied by sectarian slurs. After a ceasefire took hold, some Druze groups launched revenge attacks on Bedouin communities. The U.N. has said more than 130,000 people were displaced by the violence. Government officials, including interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, have promised to hold accountable those who targeted civilians, but many residents of Sweida remain angry and suspicious. The Druze religious sect is an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. There are roughly a million Druze worldwide and more than half of them live in Syria. The others live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights — which Israel captured from Syria during the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. The Druze largely welcomed the fall of former President Bashar Assad in December in a rebel offensive that ended decades of autocratic rule by the Assad dynasty. However, the new government under al-Sharaa, a former Islamist commander who once had al-Qaida ties, drew mixed reactions from Druze leaders. Some clerics supported engaging with the new leadership, while others, including spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and his Sweida Military Council, opposed him. Al-Sharaa has denied targeting the Druze and blamed the unrest on armed groups defying state authority, particularly those loyal to al-Hijri. He also accused Israel of deepening divisions by striking Syrian forces in Sweida, attacks that were carried out under the pretext of defending the Druze. Talal Jaramany, a 30-year-old Druze resort owner, took up arms during the fighting. 'What pushed me to put on a military uniform and go to the front lines is that what happened was lawless,' he told The Associated Press. Jaramany insisted there was little distinction between the Bedouin clans and the government's General Security forces. 'They used weapons, not dialogue,' he said. He rejects calls for disarmament, saying the Druze need their weapons for self-defense. 'We won't hand over our arms. Our weapon is sacred,' he said. 'It's not for attacking. We've never been supporters of war. We'll only give it up when the state provides real security that protects human rights.' Sweida's Christians also recount near-death escapes Members of Sweida's Christian minority were also caught up in the violence. At a church where a number of Christian families were sheltering, 36-year-old Walaa al-Shammas, a housewife with two children, said a rocket struck her home on July 16. 'Had we not been sheltering in the hallway, we would've been gone,' she said. 'My house lies in destruction and our cars are gone.' Gunmen came to the damaged house later, but moved on, apparently thinking it was empty as the family hid in the hallway, she said. In recent days, hundreds of people — Bedouins as well as Druze and Christians — have evacuated Sweida in convoys of buses carrying them to other areas, organized by the Syrian Red Crescent. Others have found their own way out. Micheline Jaber, a public employee in the provincial government in Sweida, was trying to flee the clashes last week with her husband, in-laws and extended family members when the two cars they were driving in came under shelling. She was wounded but survived, along with her mother-in-law and the young son of one of her husband's siblings. Her husband and the rest of the family members who were fleeing with them were killed. Someone, Jaber doesn't know who, loaded her and the other two survivors in a car and drove them to an ambulance crew, which evacuated them to a hospital outside of the city. She was then taken to another hospital in the southwestern city of Daraa, and finally transported to Damascus. She's now staying with friends in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana, her arms encased in bandages. 'When the shell hit the car, I came out alive — I was able to get out of the car and walk normally,' Jaber said. 'When you see all the people who died and I'm still here, I don't understand it. God has His reasons.' The one thing that comforts her is that her 15-year-old daughter was with her parents elsewhere at the time and was not harmed. 'My daughter is the most important thing and she is what gives me strength,' Jaber said. ___ Abou AlJoud reported from Beirut. Omar Sanadiki And Sally Abou Aljoud, The Associated Press
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Syrian Sectarian Strife Threatens to Upend Post-Assad Transition
Almost eight months since Bashar Al-Assad's fall, deadly sectarian clashes in southwestern Syria have exposed one of the biggest challenges to the country's postwar recovery — the new leader's failure to forge national unity. After fighting broke out earlier this month in the province of Suwayda between the Druze religious minority and Bedouin tribes, President Ahmed Al-Sharaa deployed forces seeking to quell the violence. But reports by independent monitors said government forces — most of whom, like Sharaa, belong to the country's Sunni Muslim majority — instead sided with their co-religionists, the Bedouin and allied militias, to target the Druze.
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
A Syrian American man is among members of the Druze community killed in sectarian clashes in Syria
A Syrian-American man of the Druze religious minority was killed in southern Syria when he got caught up in sectarian clashes there last week while visiting family members, relatives and officials said Tuesday. The U.S. State Department confirmed the death of U.S citizen Hossam Soraya in the city of Sweida and extended its condolences to his family. His relatives and friends told The Associated Press that Saraya, in his mid-30s from Oklahoma, was killed in an attack last Wednesday. The violence in Sweida provice, where the city of Sweida is the provincial capital, erupted earlier this month between the Druze community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, and the local Sunni Bedouin tribes, drawing in Syrian government forces, which effectively sided with the Bedouins. Hundreds of people were killed — both civilians and combatants — before a ceasefire calmed the fighting, only for clashes to restart days later. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said more than 130,000 people were displaced during the fighting. The fighting threatened Syria's fragile transition and underscored the difficulties the new government faces as it tries to consolidate control over the country, months after Islamist-led insurgents ousted longtime autocrat Bashar Assad last December. Neighboring Israel also intervened, striking Syrian forces — actions Israel said was in defense of the Druze, who are also a significant minority in Israel. A raid by gunmen in military uniform The clashes started as a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings between armed Bedouin clans and Druze militias. Government forces intervened to stop the hostilities but effectively sided with the Bedouins. On Wednesday, Soraya was abducted with his brother Karim, their father Ghassan and three other relatives from the family home by gunmen who later shot and killed them in a square in Sweida, his friends and relatives said, speaking on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals. The gunmen told them they were government forces and assured the women nothing would happen to their men as they took them away, one of Soraya's friends said. The gunmen returned later and threatened the women and children, before leaving without harming them but taking off with gold and other valuables from the house, the friend said. They said they believe government forces were behind the killings but did not elaborate. The Syrian Defense Ministry says Tuesday it was investigating 'shocking and serious violations committed by an unknown group wearing military uniforms' in Sweida, without giving further details. The ministry did not specifically mention Saraya's killing. Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford said on Monday he was heartbroken over Saraya's killing. 'We are praying for his family, friends, and the entire community as they grieve this senseless loss.' Lankford said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. Fellow Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin meanwhile said that he is working with 'partners in the region to learn more.' Trying to reach the family After new of the violence broke out, Saraya's relatives in America could not get a hold of him and other male family members in the Druze-majority city. They were told by remaining relatives in Sweida of the raid and that Saraya and the others were taken away by gunmen. Then, to their horror, they recognized Hossam and the other men from the family in a video posted on social media showing gunmen in military uniform sprayed their relatives with automatic fire as tehy were kneeling on the asphalt in a Sweida roundabout. Another video that surfaced later, shows their relatives being marched off by at least 10 armed men in military uniform, chatting among themselves, smiling and posing for the camera. A life in America Although Hossam had been living in the United States since 2014, he remained engaged in the community back home in Syria. He and his brother co-founded an online school named after their family for Syrians abroad interested in completing their education with their native country's curriculum, with millions scattered around the world after the almost 14-year civil war that erupted in 2011 and ended with Assad's ouster. On the school's social media page, Syrians and Oklahomans paid tribute to Hossam and his family after their deaths were announced. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. The others live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981. Most Druze in Syria have supported a more diplomatic approach with the new government in Damascus but the clashes in Sweida have left many doubtful of a peaceful coexistence the new leaders in the post-Assad era. ___
BBC News
22-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Suweida: BBC sees fragile ceasefire holding in battle-scarred province
The BBC has been trying to reach the southern Syrian city of Suweida where sectarian clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribal militia have killed hundreds of people. A fragile ceasefire is holding, but the area remains extremely Monday, we got within six miles of Suweida, as close as it was deemed safe to go."There are Druze snipers operating on the road ahead. That is the biggest danger," a Syrian army commander warned us as we the way we passed through deserted Druze villages, now under full Syrian government the past week, this highway has clearly been a battlefield. Shops and businesses have been burnt out. The pavements are littered with shell half a mile or so we'd come across small groups of resting Syrian army soldiers. Young men, all in black, sipping on hot tea, their guns by their sides. It's four days since the Syrian government deployed its troops to enforce a aim was to try and bring an end to a week of sectarian violence between the minority Druze religious community and Bedouin tribesmen that has left more than 1,000 people now that ceasefire appears to be holding, but it's fragile. Who are the Druze and why did Israel attack Syria?Bedouins tell BBC they could return to fighting Druze in Syria As we headed south, we came across hundreds of armed Bedouin massed by the their distinctive red and white headscarves, they were in a defiant mood, firing wildly into the air, as Syrian government soldiers looked on of them said they were prepared to take up arms again if the ceasefire breaks down. The Bedouin fighters want the release of injured Bedouin people still in the city, who they called hostages."If the Druze don't commit to the deal, we will re-enter Suweida again," one Bedouin leader told me earlier this week, "even if it becomes our cemetery."And hundreds have already been killed over the past week. Druze factions claim Syrian government forces sided with the Bedouin and carried out summary executions and other abuses. Meanwhile, the Syrian Red Crescent has managed to get some of the injured out of the main hospital in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, we saw some of the wounded being brought 27, was hobbling on crutches, still in his Syrian army fatigues but with his left foot heavily bandaged."A rocket propelled grenade exploded, and I was hit by shrapnel," he said, wincing."I want to make something clear when we entered Suweida, the houses in front of us were burnt out, the bodies of children were burned, there were children with their heads cut off," the young solider said."The situation was beyond imagination." Outside the hospital, I talked to Riham Bermawi, a coordinator for the Syrian Red the situation "catastrophic", she said there was a shortage of medicines and first aid kits."Too many surgeries needed," she had just managed to bring some of the wounded out of Suweida province, but she said it was likely too dangerous on the road to try another medical evacuation that day because snipers were shooting at the ambulances. So, what does the future hold for Syria?This past week has seen the most serious sectarian violence since the Syrian uprising which brought the Islamist rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa to power late last came after decades of dictatorship under the Assad regime."We all need to work more for Syria and to be united," Raed al-Saleh, minister of disaster management and emergency response, told me at a shelter for displaced people in Suweida province."We have many challenges, but we also have great hope," he said."We have wise men in our communities so I believe that we can overcome this difficult phase, and we can achieve peace and justice."But on the road to Suweida city, we did not witness much of that.
The National
21-07-2025
- Health
- The National
Syrian authorities evacuate Bedouin civilians from Sweida as fragile truce holds
The Syrian government has evacuated hundreds of Bedouin families from the mostly Druze city of Sweida to Deraa in a bid to prevent further fighting as a fragile ceasefire appears to hold. A truce ended a week of deadly clashes in Sweida but the city appears to remain under siege, with government troops and auxiliaries surrounding both the city and its rural outskirts. A Syrian Red Crescent official told The National that the families, many of them from Bedouin backgrounds, were taken in 120 buses to the near by province of Deraa, the launch pad of fierce attacks against Sweida by the government. The government troops, comprised mainly of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an Al Qaeda offshoot, attacked Sweida after the Druze spiritual leader Hikmat Al Hijri refused arrival of security troops last week. The government sought to send its troops to the city after mutual kidnappings between the Sunnis and the Druze, followed by sectarian clashes. The aid official said that the Red Crescent is ready to send more aid to Sweida after dozens of lorries reached the city from Damascus on Sunday, carrying mainly flour and basic foods. 'We can provide Sweida with every thing for initial recovery,' he said, declining to say why no more additional supplies were sent since. Residents of Sweida have been holed up in their homes without electricity and water and food supplies have been scarce. Khaldoun, a doctor in the main hospital in the city, who did not want to give his last name, said no medical supplies have reached the hospital and that the situation is 'catastrophic', with hundreds of bodies in the hospital and supplies dwindling to treat the wounded. Under a deal brokered last week by Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, government troops withdrew from Sweida city to its environs. The agreement stipulated a prisoners exchange, safe passage for those in Sweida who wish to leave to do so, and the flow of humanitarian aid, diplomats in Amman said. The Interior Ministry said on Sunday that Sweida city was 'evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted'. The UN migration agency said more than 128,000 people in Sweida province have been displaced by the violence.
