Sectarian clashes continue in Syria's Sweida region
The government says security forces are deploying in the southern region. Photo: Reuters
Sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on Saturday, with machinegun fire and mortar shelling ringing out after days of bloodshed as the Islamist-led government struggled 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, 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.
Saturday's 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 says it is 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 says the government is 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, 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.
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 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 says it wants areas of southern Syria near its border to remain demilitarised.
On Friday, 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, 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," said Omar Obeid, director of the hospital. (Reuters)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Syria's armed Bedouin say they have withdrawn from Druze-majority city of Sweida
Syria's armed Bedouin clans announced on Sunday they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida following weeklong clashes and a US-brokered ceasefire, as humanitarian aid convoys started to enter the battered southern city. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile post-war transition. Israel also launched dozens of air strikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouin. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouin. A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the province, which later spread to Sweida city, the provincial capital. Government forces were redeployed to halt renewed fighting that erupted on before withdrawing again. Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who has been perceived as more sympathetic to the Bedouin, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouin to leave the city, saying that they 'cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country's affairs and restoring security'. 'We thank the Bedouin for their heroic stances but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state's orders,' he said in an address broadcast on Saturday.
RTHK
6 hours ago
- RTHK
LDP setback looms in Japan upper house election
LDP setback looms in Japan upper house election Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says he plans to stay on despite what appears to be an election setback. Photo: Reuters Japan's shaky ruling coalition is likely to lose control of the upper house, exit polls showed after Sunday's election, potentially heralding political turmoil as a tariff deadline with the United States looms. While the ballot does not directly determine whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October. Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner Komeito need 50 seats to secure the 248-seat upper chamber in an election where half the seats were up for grabs. They are forecast to hold 32 to 51 seats, the exit poll by public broadcaster NHK showed. Other broadcasters forecast the ruling coalition would return 41-43 seats. If the coalition drops below 46 seats, it would mark its worst result since it was formed in 1999. That comes on top of its worst showing in 15 years in October's lower house election, a vote which has left Ishiba's administration vulnerable to no-confidence motions and calls from within his own party for leadership change. Speaking two hours after polls closed to public broadcaster NHK, Ishiba said he "solemnly" accepted the "harsh result". Asked whether he intended to stay on as prime minister and party leader, he said "that's right". "We are engaged in extremely critical tariff negotiations with the United States... we must never ruin these negotiations. It is only natural to devote our complete dedication and energy to realising our national interests," he later told TV Tokyo. Japan, the world's fourth largest economy, faces a deadline of August 1 to strike a trade deal with the United States or face punishing tariffs in its largest export market. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party is projected to win 18 to 30 seats, from 22 held previously, NHK's exit poll showed. The far-right Sanseito party, birthed on YouTube a few years ago, has been the surprise package with its "Japanese First" campaign and warnings about a "silent invasion" of foreigners. It is forecast to win 10-15 seats in the chamber, up from one held previously, yet it holds only three seats in the lower house. Opposition parties advocating for tax cuts and welfare spending have struck a chord with voters, the exit polls showed, as rising consumer prices – particularly a jump in the cost of rice – have sowed frustration at the government's response. "The LDP was largely playing defence in this election, being on the wrong side of a key voter issue," said David Boling, a director at consulting firm Eurasia Group. "Polls show that most households want a cut to the consumption tax to address inflation, something that the LDP opposes. Opposition parties seized on it and hammered that message home." The LDP has been urging for fiscal restraint, with one eye on a very jittery government bond market, as investors worry about Japan's ability to refinance the world's largest debt pile. (Reuters)
The Standard
13 hours ago
- The Standard
Trump urged not to fire Fed chief
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, DC, in June. Photo by REUTERS
