Calm reported in Syria's Sweida, as Damascus says truce holding

Japan Times

7 days ago

Residents reported calm in Syria's Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a U.S. envoy signaled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.
With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab said Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, "paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate."
Images showed Interior Ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The ministry said late Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said the sides had "navigated to a pause and cessation of hostilities."
"The next foundation stone on a path to inclusion, and lasting de-escalation, is a complete exchange of hostages and detainees, the logistics of which are in process," he wrote on X.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city's residents were 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 by phone.
Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed.
"Houses are destroyed. ... The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital," he said in a voice message from Sweida.
The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organized by the Syrian Red Crescent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.
Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Sunday that Israel sent urgent medical aid to the Druze in Sweida and the step was coordinated with Washington and Syria. Spokespeople for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Foreign Ministry and the military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Tribal fighters stand next to a government checkpoint in the town of Busra al-Hariri, east of the city of Sweida, Syria, on Sunday. |
AFP-JIJI
The Druze are a small but influential minority in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shiite Islam. Some hard-line Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.
Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbors were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.
Al-Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against "our Druze people."
He has blamed the violence on "outlaw groups."
While al-Sharaa has won U.S. backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups.
After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the Defense Ministry in Damascus last week, Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarization of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.
He also said Israel would protect the Druze.
The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.
A Syrian security source said that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.
On Sunday, al-Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria's coastal region in March, where Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority in June following attacks on security forces.
The presidency said it would review the inquiry's conclusions and ensure steps to "bring about justice" and prevent the recurrence of "such violations." It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings — if appropriate — as soon as possible.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said Friday it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians, women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.
Reporters could not independently verify the tolls.