Fighting reignites in Syria's Druze city of Sweida as Israel vow more strikes
The outbreak of violence in the predominantly Druze province in southern Syria has highlighted frictions among Syria's diverse communities, with minorities feeling deep distrust towards the Islamist-led government now in power.
Syrian troops were dispatched to the province on Monday to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias. The fighting drew in Israel, which carried out air strikes on government forces on Monday and Tuesday, ostensibly with the aim of protecting the Druze.
The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Syria : government forces enter Sweida
01:06
A ceasefire announced by Syria's defence ministry on Tuesday night was short-lived.
Local news outlet Sweida24 said the city of Sweida and nearby villages were coming under heavy artillery and mortar fire early on Wednesday. Syria's defence ministry, in a statement carried by state news agency SANA, blamed outlaw groups in Sweida for breaching the truce.
The defence ministry called on residents of the city to stay indoors.
Dozens of civilians, government troops and Druze fighters have been killed since the fighting erupted on Sunday.
Civilians and Reuters reporters in the city said that government forces had looted and burned homes, stealing cars and furniture from homes on Tuesday. One man showed a Reuters reporter the body of his brother, who had been shot in the head inside their home.
Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday warned the Syrian government to "leave Druze alone" and that the military would continue to strike Syrian government forces until they pulled back.
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France 24
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- France 24
Israel bolsters border security after Syria attacks on Druze
Israeli soldiers in the occupied Golan Heights fired teargas to keep order along the heavily fortified frontier as dozens of people tried to cross over, said an AFP reporter in Majdal Shams, a mainly Druze town in the Israeli-annexed area. Large crowds of men, many of them in the traditional Druze attire of white caps and black tunics, gathered in front of the barbed wire, chanting and waving Druze flags, as Israeli soldiers looked on. "We just want to help our people. We want to help the parents, we want to help our families," said Faiz Shakir, from the Golan Heights. He said he was "very, very frustrated" after hearing of atrocities against the Druze in Syria. "There's nothing we can do. Our families are there... my wife is from there, my mother is from there, my uncles are there, my whole family is from there." The Israeli military said in a statement that "dozens of suspects" had tried to "infiltrate Israeli territory", with troops and border police "operating to prevent the infiltration and disperse the gathering". It added that "simultaneously, several Israeli civilians crossed the border fence into Syrian territory in the area of Majdal Shams" and troops were "operating to safely return" them. Tensions have surged after Syria's government deployed its security forces following unrest between members of the Druze religious minority and Bedouin fighters in the southern province of Sweida, which abuts the Golan Heights. Witnesses, Druze armed groups and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said Syrian troops took part in fighting with the Bedouin against the Druze, which Israel has vowed to protect. The Observatory said that 27 Druze civilians had been killed sine Sunday in "summary executions... by members of the defence and interior ministries". Israel, home to 153,000 Druze citizens, has repeatedly stated its intention to defend the community in Syria, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces as far from their shared frontier as possible. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in February that southern Syria must be completely demilitarised and that Israel would not accept the presence of Damascus's Islamist-led government near its territory. 'Very serious' In the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967, more than 22,000 Druze hold permanent resident status, and maintain family ties inside Syria. Only around 1,600 have taken up the offer of Israeli citizenship. The remainder maintain their Syrian identity. The minority also accounts for about three percent of Syria's population and is heavily concentrated in the southern province of Sweida. On Wednesday, Netanyahu described the situation in Sweida as "very serious" and urged concerned Druze not to cross the border. "You are endangering your lives," he said. "You could be killed, you could be kidnapped, and you are harming the efforts of the (Israeli military)." The Israeli military, which announced the reinforcement of the border with more troops including some from Gaza, said earlier it had struck the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus. Defence Minister Israel Katz said that "the signals to Damascus are over -- now come the painful blows", sharing Syrian television footage of an explosion in Damascus on his X account. He promised that troops would "operate forcefully in Sweida to eliminate the forces that attacked the Druze until their full withdrawal".
France 24
3 hours ago
- France 24
Syrians terrified as violence grips Druze-majority city of Sweida
"A lot of my friends were killed, including a doctor who was going to hospital," said Osama, 32, by telephone on Wednesday, adding he was in the centre of the southern city. "There were summary executions in the streets," he told AFP crying, declining to provide his surname. "If they reach here, I'm dead," he said, adding: "I fear massacres similar to those on the coast." In early March, hundreds of civilians mostly from Syria's Alawite minority were massacred in the community's coastal heartland after attacks on the security forces. Security personnel, allied armed groups and foreign jihadists were accused of committing the atrocities. Paramedic Munzer, 43, said he was stuck at home in Sweida unable to respond to calls for help. "Entire families have been decimated. I know a family of four who were killed in their home," he said. "The bombardment didn't stop all night," said Munzer, also declining to provide his surname. "We have nothing left to eat in the fridge, just some dry biscuits, and some fruit and vegetables that have gone bad because the power has been cut off for 48 hours," he said. "I have four children but I don't know how to protect them." 'Catastrophic situation' But the hardest thing, according to Munzer, is being unable to do his job as a paramedic. He said he had received more than 50 calls for help and was worried about the "catastrophic situation" in the city's main hospital where he usually works. An AFP correspondent in the city saw men wearing defence ministry uniforms, some with their faces covered, launching mortars and crying out "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest, in Arabic) near the bodies of two Druze fighters, as other combatants went house to house carrying out searches. Another AFP correspondent saw on Wednesday some 30 bodies on the ground, including government forces and fighters in civilian clothes whose affiliation was not immediately clear. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, more than 300 people have been killed since fighting erupted on Sunday between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes, sparking government intervention, and Israeli strikes in support of the Druze. Most of the dead are fighters but they also include 40 civilians, 27 of them summarily executed by security force personnel, according to the Britain-based Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria. The Syrian presidency on Wednesday condemned "heinous acts" and vowed to punish those responsible. A committee tasked to investigate the coastal massacres in March was supposed to issue its findings earlier this month but no report has been announced.
France 24
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- France 24
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