Syrian forces withdraw from Sweida after ceasefire goes into effect

Euronews

3 days ago

Syrian forces largely withdrew from the southern province of Sweida on Thursday following days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority.
While the truce between armed groups and government forces appeared to be largely holding, state media reported that Druze militants had launched individual attacks on Bedouin communities.
Syrian state television channel Al-Ikhbariya said "tens of families" of Bedouins had fled following clashes on the outskirts of the Druze-majority province.
The UK-based monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that Druze factions had entered several Bedouin villages.
Bedouin groups had fought alongside government forces against the Druze groups.
Druze leaders and Syrian government officials reached a ceasefire deal mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries.
Under the ceasefire agreement reached on Wednesday, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in an address broadcast early on Thursday.
The fighting had threatened to unravel Syria's post-war political transition and brought further military intervention by neighbouring Israel, which on Wednesday struck the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.
Israel said it was acting to protect the Druze religious minority.
Convoys of government forces started withdrawing from the city of Sweida overnight as Syrian state media said the withdrawal was in line with the ceasefire agreement and the military operation against Druze factions had ended.
It remained unclear if the ceasefire would hold after the agreement was announced by Syria's Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader.
A previous agreement on Tuesday quickly collapsed after being dismissed by prominent Druze cleric Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri.
Looting homes and killing civilians
A Turkish official said on Thursday that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief İbrahim Kalin held a series of diplomatic and security meetings to de-escalate the clashes.
They worked with the US special envoy for Syria, Israel, and regional officials and leaders, Walid Jumblatt, said the official who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.
The escalation in Syria began with clashes between local Bedouin groups and Druze armed factions.
Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with Druze militias, but also in some cases reportedly attacked civilians.
The Syrian government has not issued a casualty count from the clashes, but some rights groups and monitors say dozens of combatants on both sides have been killed, as well as dozens of largely Druze civilians killed in attacks.
At least 374 combatants and civilians were killed in the clashes and Israeli strikes, among them dozens of civilians killed in the crossfire or in targeted attacks against the minority group, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Video circulated on social media showed government forces and allies humiliating Druze clerics and residents, looting homes and killing civilians hiding inside their houses.
Syrian Druze from Sweida told the AP that several family members who were unarmed had been attacked or killed.
Al-Sharaa appealed to them in his address and vowed to hold perpetrators to account.
"We are committed to holding accountable those who wronged our Druze brethren," he said, describing the Druze as an "integral part of this nation's fabric" who are under the protection of state law and justice.
Scepticism among the Druze
The Druze community has been divided over how to approach al-Sharaa's rule over Syria after largely celebrating the downfall of Bashar al-Assad and his family's decades-long dictatorial rule.
They feared persecution after several attacks from the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group and al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front during Syria's 14-year civil war.
While it first appeared many Druze hoped to resolve matters diplomatically, with al-Sharaa promising an inclusive Syria for all its different communities, over time they became more sceptical, especially after a counterinsurgency in the coastal province in February turned into targeted attacks against the Alawite minority.
The Druze religious group began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam, however it does not identify as Muslim.
More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria.
Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the occupied Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981.