Syria's Sharaa vows to protect Druze rights as ceasefire holds
Overnight, the Islamist-led government's troops withdrew from the predominantly Druze city of Sweida, where scores of people have been killed in days of conflict pitting Druze fighters against government troops and Bedouin tribes.
One local journalist said he'd counted more than 60 bodies in the streets of Sweida on Thursday morning. Ryan Marouf of Suwayda24 told Reuters he had found a family of 12 people killed in one house, including women and an elderly man.
Violence in Syria escalated sharply on Wednesday as Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus, while also hitting government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze - part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.
Israel, which bombed Syria frequently under the rule of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, has struck the country repeatedly this year, describing its new leaders as barely disguised jihadists and saying it will not allow them to deploy forces in areas of southern Syria near its border.
Addressing Syrians on Thursday, interim President Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to "dismantle the unity of our people", saying it had "consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime".
Sharaa, who was commander of an al Qaeda faction before cutting ties with the group in 2016, said protecting Druze citizens and their rights was "our priority" and rejected any attempt to drag them into the hands of an "external party".
He also vowed to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people".
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarisation of a swathe of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He reiterated Israel's policy to protect the Druze.
Syria had sent "its army south of Damascus into an area that was supposed to remain demilitarized, and it began massacring Druze. This was something we could not accept in any way," he said, adding: "It is a ceasefire achieved through strength".
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented 193 dead in four days of fighting, among them medical personnel, women and children.
The Network's head Fadel Abdulghany told Reuters the figure included cases of field executions by both sides, Syrians killed by Israeli strikes and others killed in clashes but that it would take time to break down the figures for each category.
A Sweida resident, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Amer, out of fear of reprisals, shared a video of his neighbours slain in their home. It showed a lifeless man in a chair, an elderly man with a gunshot wound to his right temple on the floor and a younger man, face down in a pool of blood.
Amid reports of revenge attacks on Bedouin on Thursday, leading Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari called for peaceful Bedouin tribes to be respected and not harmed.
One reporter in Sweida this week saw government fighters loot and burn homes, including just before they departed Sweida overnight. Fighters also shaved off the moustaches of Druze men.
Moustaches are worn by Druze sheikhs and many other Druze men as a symbol of religious and cultural identity with spiritual significance.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late on Wednesday the United States had engaged all the parties involved and that steps had been agreed that would end "this troubling and horrifying situation".
Sharaa credited U.S. Arab and Turkish mediation for saving "the region from an uncertain fate".
The violence has underlined the challenges that Sharaa faces in stabilizing Syria and exerting centralised rule over the country, despite his warming ties with the United States and his administration's evolving security contacts with Israel.
Sharaa faces challenges to stitch Syria back together in the face of deep misgivings from groups that fear Islamist rule. In March, mass killings of members of the Alawite minority exacerbated the mistrust.
Israel's airstrikes on Wednesday blew up part of Syria's defence ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria.
The United Nations Security Council will meet on Thursday to address the conflict, diplomats said.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Tense calm' returns to Syria's Sweida province after week of deadly violence
An uneasy calm returned to southern Syria's Sweida province on Sunday, after fighters withdrew following a week of violence estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people. Local people told news agencies the area was calm after Syria's Islamist-led government said Bedouin fighters had left the predominantly Druze city. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Sweida had been experiencing 'a cautious calm since the early hours of Sunday morning', but warned of 'the deterioration of the humanitarian situation' including a severe shortage of basic medical supplies. The SOHR reported on Sunday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in armed clashes, bombardment, extrajudicial executions and Israeli airstrikes since the violence in Sweida province began a week ago. The United Nations migration agency said the number of people displaced by the violence had risen to more than 128,000. One local resident, dentist Kenan Azzam, told Reuters on Sunday morning the situation was one of 'a tense calm' but people were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. 'The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,' he said. Agence France-Presse correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported there were no sounds of fighting, adding humanitarian convoys were preparing to enter the Druze-majority town. The Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian organisation announced it was sending 32 trucks to Sweida loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the health ministry was also sending a convoy of trucks. The violence was triggered by a dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze, who are a minority in wider Syria, which prompted government forces to intervene. Druze fighters resisted their entry into the province and violence escalated, turning into days of terror for local people. In response, Israel, which has vowed to protect the Druze community, launched airstrikes on Syria's defence ministry in Damascus and dozens of military targets in the south of the country. A ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel had been announced by the US early on Saturday to prevent further Israeli military intervention. Early on Sunday, the US stepped up calls for an end to the fighting. 'All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,' the US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, wrote on X. 'Syria stands at a critical juncture – peace and dialogue must prevail – and prevail now.' A few hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, issued a warning to Syria's new government, whose forces have been accused by Druze factions of committing abuses, including summary executions, when they entered Sweida earlier in the week. Rubio wrote on X: 'If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of Isis [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Isis and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres. And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.' Two members of the government forces posted sectarian hate speech against Druze, according to private social media seen by the Guardian's correspondent in Beirut. One posted a video of him and two other soldiers driving through Sweida laughing as he said: 'We are on our way to distribute aid,' while brandishing a machete to the camera. He filmed himself inside a house in Sweida ripping a picture of Druze spiritual leaders off a wall and trampling it with his boots. The last week has been the worst outbreak of violence since March, when 1,500 mostly Alawite citizens were massacred in revenge for a failed attack by supporters of the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, who came from the sect. The second round of sectarian violence has tempered international hopes for the new Syrian government, which came to power last December after the sudden fall of the Assad regime. Western governments, the US, the UK and the EU, lifted sanctions in an effort to aid Syria's battered economy and economic reconstruction, after 13 years of civil war and repression by the Assad regime, which killed more than half a million people, leaving 90% of the population in poverty. The EU said on Saturday it was 'appalled by the hundreds of victims' of the recent violence, including that 'reportedly perpetrated by several armed groups against unarmed civilians'. In a statement, the EU foreign service urged 'all parties to immediately stop all acts of violence, to protect all civilians without distinction, and to take immediate steps to prevent incitement and sectarian discourse'. The EU also called on 'Israel and all other foreign actors to fully respect Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity'. Syria's interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Saturday announced a ceasefire in Sweida and renewed his promise to protect Syria's ethnic and religious minorities. Sharaa, who was more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying they 'cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country's affairs and restoring security'. The interior ministry said overnight that Sweida city was 'evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted'. A spokesperson for Syria's tribal and clan council told Al Jazeera late on Saturday that fighters had left the city 'in response to the call of the presidency and the terms of the agreement'.
Sky News
2 hours ago
- Sky News
Homes still burning after mass pillaging and 30,000 trapped in besieged city - as Syria's fragile ceasefire holds
The main road entering the besieged Syrian city of Sweida from the west has changed dramatically over 12 hours. A bulldozer, parked on the side of the road, has been used to create several berms to form a sand barrier around 25km (16 miles) from the city centre. Dozens of Syrian security forces were standing in lines in front of the barricades when we arrived, and there were forces further up the road stopping vehicles from going any further. The Arab tribal fighters we'd seen fighting furiously inside the city the day before were now all camped alongside the road. Some were sleeping on the back of their pick-ups. "We're not giving up," one shouted to us as we walked towards the checkpoint. The ceasefire agreement between Druze leaders who are bunkered down inside the city and the Bedouins - and the tribal fighters who have flocked to join them - has frustrated some. Some of them, waiting with guns slung over their backs, are itching to return to battle. But for now, tribal leaders have instructed them to hold fire. How long that will last is probably key to Syria's future and whether it can be a peaceful one. Khalaf al Modhi, the head of a group of tribes called United Tribes, told the group of fighters: "We are not against the Druze. We are not here to kill the Druze." But he spent many minutes castigating the senior Druze cleric inside Sweida whom many of the tribes see as the agitator behind the violent clashes. Hikmat al Hijiri is head of a Druze faction that is deeply suspicious of the new government led by Ahmed al Sharaa and is resisting ceding power to Damascus. The retreat of the Arab tribes from the city centre means the Druze militia under Hijiri's control are now the ones deciding who goes in or out of the city. About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the city and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water. The humanitarian situation is dramatically worsening by the day. But at the time of writing, there were still no agreed safe corridors to bring out those pinned inside. On top of this, there are nearly 130,000 people displaced and forced out of their homes because of the fighting, according to UN estimates. Maintaining the ceasefire is key to ensuring solutions are found to help those suffering, and quickly. It's also the most serious challenge facing the new Syrian leader and his interim government. The level of distrust between the Hijiri-led Druze faction and the new government is strong and deep. So much so that the Druze leaders have refused to accept truckloads of aid organised by any of the government outlets. The new Syrian leader has struggled to convince the country's minorities that their safety under his leadership is assured. Druze civilians and human rights activists reported mass killings and executions of Druze by government troops who were sent in last week to quell the latest clashes between the Druze and Arab Bedouins who have been at odds for many years. Government forces pulled out of the city only after Israel unleashed a spate of airstrikes, saying they were defending the Druze. The bombings killed hundreds of Syrian troops. But with the withdrawal of the government troops, the Arab Bedouin population said the city's Druze militia embarked on a string of revenge atrocities. That in turn led to thousands of tribal fighters massing from around the country to defend their Arab brethren. When we were inside the city, we saw multiple corpses lying on the streets, and many appeared to have been killed with a shot to the head. Homes and businesses are still burning after mass pillaging as fighters retreated. And now, there is a growing humanitarian disaster unfolding.
Sky News
3 hours ago
- Sky News
30,000 trapped inside Syria's besieged city despite ceasefire - as humanitarian crisis unfolds
The main road entering the besieged Syrian city of Sweida from the West has changed dramatically over twelve hours. A bulldozer, parked on the side of the road, has been used to create several berms to form a sand barrier around 25km (16 miles) from the city centre. Dozens of Syrian security forces were standing in lines in front of the barricades when we arrived, and there were forces further up the road stopping vehicles from going any further. The Arab tribal fighters we'd seen fighting furiously inside the city the day before were now all camped alongside the road. Some were sleeping on the back of their pick-ups. "We're not giving up," one shouted to us as we walked towards the checkpoint. The ceasefire agreement between Druze leaders who're bunkered down inside the city and the Bedoins - and the tribal fighters who'd flock to join them - has frustrated some. Some of them, waiting with guns slung over their backs, are itching to return to battle. But for now, tribal leaders have instructed them to hold fire. How long that will last is probably key to Syria's future and whether it can be a peaceful one. Khalaf al Modhi, the head of a group of tribes called United Tribes, told the group of fighters: "We are not against the Druze. We are not here to kill the Druze." But he spent many minutes castigating the senior Druze cleric inside Sweida whom many of the tribes see as the agitator behind the violent clashes. Hikmat Al Hijiri is head of a Druze faction that is deeply suspicious of the new government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa and is resisting ceding power to Damascus. The retreat of the Arab tribes from the city centre means the Druze militia under Hijiri's control are now the ones deciding who goes in or out of the city. About 30,000 mostly Druze people are thought to be trapped inside the city and surrounding towns, with no electricity, little internet and dwindling supplies of food and water. The humanitarian situation is dramatically worsening by the day. But at the time of writing, there were still no agreed safe corridors to bring out those pinned inside. On top of this, there are nearly 130,000 people displaced and forced out of their homes because of the fighting, according to UN estimates. Maintaining the ceasefire is key to ensuring solutions are found to help those suffering, and quickly. It's also the most serious challenge facing the new Syrian leader and his interim government. The level of distrust between the Hijiri-led Druze faction and the new government is strong and deep. So much so that the Druze leaders have refused to accept truckloads of aid organised by any of the government outlets. The new Syrian leader has struggled to convince the country's minorities that their safety under his leadership is assured. Druze civilians and human rights activists reported mass killings and executions of Druze by government troops who were sent in last week to quell the latest clashes between the Druze and Arab Bedoins who have been at odds for many years. Government forces pulled out of the city only after Israel unleashed a spate of airstrikes, saying they were defending the Druze. The bombings killed hundreds of Syrian troops. But with the withdrawal of the government troops, the Arab Bedoin population said the city's Druze militia embarked on a string of revenge atrocities. That in turn led to thousands of tribal fighters massing from around the country to defend their Arab brethren. When we were inside the city, we saw multiple corpses lying on the streets, and many appeared to have been killed with a shot to the head. Homes and businesses are still burning after mass pillaging as fighters retreated. And now, there is a growing humanitarian disaster unfolding.
