logo
Calm Returns To South Syria After Violence That Killed 1,000: Monitor

Calm Returns To South Syria After Violence That Killed 1,000: Monitor

Calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,000 people.
A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals the Druze and the Bedouin that spiralled to draw in the Islamist-led government, the Israeli military and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.
AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported hearing no clashes on Sunday morning, with government forces deployed in some locations in the province to enforce the truce and at least one humanitarian convoy headed for the Druze-majority city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since around midnight (2100 GMT Saturday), "Sweida has been experiencing a cautious calm", adding government security forces had blocked roads leading to the province in order to prevent tribal fighters from going there.
The Britain-based Observatory gave an updated toll on Sunday of more than 1,000 killed since the violence erupted a week ago, including 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians from the minority group, as well as 342 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin.
Witnesses, Druze factions and the Observatory have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses including summary executions when they entered Sweida days ago.
Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP that "the city hasn't seen calm like this in a week".
The interior ministry said overnight that Sweida city was "evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted".
The Observatory had said Druze fighters retook control of the city on Saturday evening.
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa had on Saturday announced a fresh ceasefire in Sweida and renewed a pledge to protect Syria's ethnic and religious minorities in the face of the latest sectarian violence since Islamists overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.
A spokesman for Syria's tribal and clan council told Al Jazeera late Saturday that fighters had left the city "in response to the call of the presidency and the terms of the agreement".
Another medic inside Sweida told AFP by telephone on Sunday that "the situation is totally calm... We aren't hearing clashes."
"No medical or relief assistance has entered until now," the medic added, requesting anonymity due to the security situation.
State news agency SANA published images showing medical aid being prepared near the health ministry in Damascus and quoted Health Minister Musab al-Ali as saying assistance would be delivered to Sweida's main hospital, where bodies have piled up.
Inside the city, where around 150,000 people live, residents have been holed up in their homes without electricity and water, and food supplies have also been scarce.
The United Nations migration agency said more than 128,000 people in Sweida province have been displaced by the violence.
US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack said Sunday that the country stood at a "critical juncture", adding that "peace and dialogue must prevail -- and prevail now".
"All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance," he wrote on X, saying "brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government's authority and disrupt any semblance of order".
Sharaa's announcement Saturday came hours after the United States said it had negotiated a ceasefire between Syria's government and Israel, which had bombed government forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier in the week.
Israel, which has its own Druze community, has said it was acting in defence of the group, as well as to enforce its demands for the total demilitarisation of Syria's south.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday urged the Syrian government's security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and "carrying out massacres" in the south, and called on Damascus to "bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks".
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

US Migrant Raids Spark Boom For Private Detention Providers
US Migrant Raids Spark Boom For Private Detention Providers

Int'l Business Times

timean hour ago

  • Int'l Business Times

US Migrant Raids Spark Boom For Private Detention Providers

Donald Trump's promise to carry out the largest deportation operation in US history has appalled some Americans. But others are cashing in on the boom in demand for private detention centers. Migrants captured by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents need to be temporarily housed in places like the facility being readied in California City, prior to deportation. "When you talk to the majority of residents here, they have a favorable perspective on it," said Marquette Hawkins, mayor of the hardscrabble settlement of 15,000 people, 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of Los Angeles. "They look at the economic impact, right?" California City is to be home to a sprawling detention center that will be operated by CoreCivic, one of the largest companies in the private detention sector. The company, which declined AFP requests for an interview, says the facility would generate around 500 jobs, and funnel $2 million in tax revenue to the city. "Many of our residents have already been hired out there to work in that facility," Hawkins told AFP. "Any revenue source that is going to assist the town in rebuilding itself, rebranding itself, is going to be seen as a plus," he said. Trump's ramped-up immigration arrests, like those that provoked protests in Los Angeles, saw a record 60,000 people in detention in June, according to ICE figures. Those same figures show the vast majority have no conviction, despite the president's election campaign promises to go after hardened criminals. More than 80 percent of detainees are in facilities run by the private sector, according to the TRAC project at Syracuse University. And with Washington's directive to triple the number of daily arrests -- and $45 billion earmarked for new detention centers -- the sector is looking at an unprecedented boom. "Never in our 42-year company history have we had so much activity and demand for our services as we are seeing right now," Damon Hininger, executive director of CoreCivic, said in a May call with investors. When Trump took office in January, some 107 centers were operating. The number now hovers around 200. For Democratic politicians, this proliferation is intentional. "Private prison companies are profiting from human suffering, and Republicans are allowing them to get away with it," Congresswoman Norma Torres told reporters outside a detention center in the southern California city of Adelanto. At the start of the year, there were three people detained there; there are now hundreds, each one of them attracting a daily stipend of taxpayer cash for the operator. Torres was refused permission to visit the facility, run by the privately owned GEO Group, because she had not given seven days' notice, she said. "Denying members of Congress access to private detention facilities like Adelanto isn't just disrespectful, it is dangerous, it is illegal, and it is a desperate attempt to hide the abuse happening behind these walls," she said. "We've heard the horrifying stories of detainees being violently arrested, denied basic medical care, isolated for days, and left injured without treatment," she added. Kristen Hunsberger, a staff attorney at the Law Center for Immigrant Advocates, said one client complained of having to wait "six or seven hours to get clean water." It is "not sanitary and certainly not... in compliance with just basic human rights." Hunsberger, who spends hours on the road going from one center to another to locate her clients, says many have been denied access to legal counsel, a constitutional right in the United States. Both GEO and ICE have denied allegations of mistreatment at the detention centers. "Claims there is overcrowding or subprime conditions in ICE facilities are categorically FALSE," said Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. "All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment and have opportunities to communicate with their family members and lawyers." But some relatives of detainees tell a different story. Alejandra Morales, an American citizen, said her undocumented husband was detained incommunicado for five days in Los Angeles before being transferred to Adelanto. In the Los Angeles facility, "they don't even let them brush their teeth, they don't let them bathe, nothing. They have them all sleeping on the floor, in a cell, all together," she said. Hunsberger said that for detainees and their relatives, the treatment appears to be deliberate. "They're starting to feel that this is a strategy to wear people down, to have them in these inhumane conditions, and then pressure them to sign something where they could then agree to being deported," she said. The California City Immigration Processing Center in the Mojave Desert north of Los Angeles awaits reopening as a privately operated immigrant detention facility AFP

UN Slams Gaza Airdrop Aid as 'Inefficient and a Distraction' Amid Starvation Crisis
UN Slams Gaza Airdrop Aid as 'Inefficient and a Distraction' Amid Starvation Crisis

Int'l Business Times

timean hour ago

  • Int'l Business Times

UN Slams Gaza Airdrop Aid as 'Inefficient and a Distraction' Amid Starvation Crisis

The UNRWA commissioner condemned Israel and Western leaders for opting to airdrop aid into Gaza rather than pressuring Israel to allow the 6,000 truckloads of aid currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt to enter as dozens of Palestinians, mostly children, die from starvation-related causes. The commissioner of a United Nations agency criticized Western leaders' initiative to airdrop aid into the besieged Gaza enclave as "inefficient and a distraction," as the Israeli-driven starvation crisis deepens, claiming the lives of at least 122 Palestinians, 83 of whom were babies and children. On Friday, Israel announced it would soon permit Jordan and the United Arab Emirates to coordinate with the UK, France, and Germany to conduct humanitarian airdrops over Gaza, The Times of Israel reported. The news came as more than 2.2 million Palestinians remain trapped in the besieged enclave, facing a worsening humanitarian catastrophe. "#Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation," Philippe Lazzarini, the Swiss Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNWRA), wrote in an X post shared Saturday. "They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians. It is a distraction & screensmoke [sic]." Since March 2, Israel has blocked nearly all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, creating conditions that aid agencies warn amount to deliberate starvation, a practice considered a war crime under international law. The ongoing siege has made food, clean water, and medical supplies nearly inaccessible. In an attempt to ease the crisis, Israel and the United States opened four Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution sites at the end of May. However, these efforts have been marred by violence as more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and American mercenaries while trying to retrieve the aid. In November 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The court alleges both are "responsible for the war crimes of starvation as a method of warfare" beginning Oct. 8, 2023. "A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will," Lazzarini continued. "Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements + dignified access to people in need. Allow the U.N. including @UNRWA & our partners to operate at scale & without bureaucratic or political hurdles." Lazzarini added that UNRWA has 6,000 trucks in Jordan and Egypt "waiting for the green light to get into Gaza." "Driving aid through is much easier, more effective, faster, cheaper & safer. It's more dignified for the people of #Gaza," he added. #Gaza: airdrops will not reverse the deepening starvation. They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving is a distraction & screensmoke.A manmade hunger can only be addressed by political will. Lift the siege, open the gates & guarantee safe movements… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 26, 2025 In a follow-up post, Lazzarini described the dire conditions Palestinians in Gaza are enduring, quoting a colleague who said, "'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses.'" He added that UNRWA found that 1 in every 5 children in Gaza City is malnourished, a figure that increases daily. "When child malnutrition surges, coping mechanisms fail, access to food & care disappears, famine silently begins to unfold. Most children our teams are seeing are emaciated, weak & at high risk of dying if they don't get the treatment they urgently need," he wrote, adding that frontline health workers, currently surviving on one small meal a day, are also fainting from hunger. "When caretakers cannot find enough to eat, the entire humanitarian system is collapsing. Parents are too hungry to care for their children," the UNWRA commissioner wrote. "Those who reach UNRWA clinics don't have the energy, food, or means to follow medical advice." "Families are no longer coping, they are breaking down, unable to survive. Their existence is threatened," he added, before stressing that UNRWA must be permitted to distribute food and medical supplies from the 6,000 aid trucks currently stalled in Jordan and Egypt. 'People in Gaza are neither dead nor alive, they are walking corpses': a colleague in #Gaza told me this morning. Meanwhile, according to @UNRWA latest findings: one in every five children is malnourished in Gaza City as cases increase every day. When child malnutrition… — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) July 24, 2025 Since October 2023, nearly 60,000 Palestinians have died, either directly from Israeli military actions or indirectly as a result of Israeli policies. During the same period, around 1,600 Israelis have been killed, with 1,200 of those deaths occurring on Oct. 7, 2023. Originally published on Latin Times © Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

'Make America Gay Again': Amsterdam Pride Gets Political
'Make America Gay Again': Amsterdam Pride Gets Political

Int'l Business Times

time2 hours ago

  • Int'l Business Times

'Make America Gay Again': Amsterdam Pride Gets Political

Thousands of people gathered for Amsterdam Pride march on Saturday in a festive and political mood, stressing the need to defend LGBTQI+ rights increasingly under threat around the world. Organised by the Pride Amsterdam foundation, the march kicked off a week of festivities in the Dutch capital, which culminates next weekend in a huge parade on the city's famous canals. "We have an amazing pride, because it's on the canals, it's very unique, so it's very famous," said Ben Thomas from Amsterdam, current holder of the title Mister Bear 2024, awarded to men with luxuriant facial hair. "People are not so aware about the march, because it has turned into too much of a party and does not so much focus on why we do it," added the 44-year-old, who teaches young refugees. "We're not just here to party, but we're here to be equal citizens. We're here for our rights!" Decked out in dashing and brightly coloured clothes, the demonstrators marched through the city centre in festive mood, brandishing rainbows or banners reading "Make America Gay Again" or "Protect the Dolls" -- a reference to the rights of transgender women. "It's important to be here, to show up. With all the stuff that's going on in the world, it's getting really scary, especially in America," said Dani van Duin, a 44-year-old IT specialist who identifies as a lesbian woman. Since his return to power, US President Donald Trump has rolled back many rights enjoyed by transgender people. But the situation is also becoming less comfortable even in the Netherlands, said Van Duin. "People are just repeating hate speech from the right wing, and they don't think anymore," she told AFP. Lina van Dinther, a 21-year-old student, came to march with two friends and celebrate her transgender identity. "And also to hopefully improve the transgender situation in the Netherlands," she added, draped in a blue, pink, and white flag that represents her community. The young woman said the waiting list for a clinic offering transition surgery can be as much as six years. "It's a pressing issue that needs to be addressed," she told AFP. At the end of the march, in Amsterdam's leafy Vondelpark, Frederique Emmerig, dressed in a summery dress, looks around her in wonder. "In my city, I feel like I'm the only one. It's very lonely." Pride marches are organised in many global cities around the world, linked to the Stonewall riots which erupted in New York in June 1969, the founding mobilisation of the LGBTQI+ movement. The march was as political as it was festive AFP

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store