As U.S. hails Syria ceasefire, Sweida residents say fighting rages on

Washington Post

3 days ago

Syria's president on Saturday declared a 'comprehensive and immediate ceasefire' after nearly a week of sectarian bloodshed in the country's Druze-majority south, saying government security forces would be dispatched to the region, but street battles raged on.
The fighting, which started with clashes between Druze and Bedouin militias in the city of Sweida, and drew in government forces, Sunni tribesmen and Israel, is among the deadliest since the fall of former dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. The fast-spreading violence has laid bare the challenges facing new President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former Islamist rebel leader who is trying to rebuild a fractured Syria after a long civil war.
Sharaa's ceasefire demand came shortly after the Trump administration's Syria envoy made a similar appeal — for 'Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons' and 'build a new and united Syrian identity.' The envoy, Tom Barrack, also said a 'breakthrough' had been reached between Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after days of Israeli airstrikes on the country.
Syria's interior ministry posted photographs Saturday afternoon showing what it said were government security forces outside Sweida, the epicenter of the violence, but attacks on civilians were 'still ongoing,' said a 52-year old teacher who spoke on the condition he be identified by his first name, Hossam, for safety reasons.
Residents and human rights groups described a catastrophic situation in the city, where hundreds have been killed in clashes or summarily executed, and where armed men have looted and burned homes and stores. The Syrian Network for Human Rights on Friday said it had confirmed the deaths of at least 321 people.
'Whole families are without blankets, without food, without clothes, without medicine, without electricity, without water,' Hossam said.
Government troops were sent to Sweida earlier this week to quell fighting between local Druze militias and Bedouin fighters, but the presence of state forces — who locals accused of abuses, some of which were filmed and went viral online — did little to calm the situation.
The government began withdrawing after Israel, Syria's neighbor, carried out bombing raids on military convoys and state buildings in Damascus, the capital, saying its strikes were aimed at protecting the Druze. In the days that followed, the fighting grew more deadly as reprisal attacks intensified and large numbers of armed Sunni Arab tribesmen from across Syria headed to the region to support local Bedouins.
In a speech Saturday, Sharaa said the events in Sweida were a 'dangerous turning point' in the country's development. He condemned Israel's intervention as well as the 'separatist' ambitions of some in Sweida, an apparent reference to leading Druze figures, including Hikmat al-Hijri, a spiritual leader who has opposed Sharaa's government and is seen as close to Israel.
Sharaa praised the Sunni tribesmen for mobilizing but called on them to abide by the ceasefire. The president's praise for the tribes was 'deeply troubling,' Hiba Zayadin, a senior Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, wrote in a post on X. 'Syria needs a professional, accountable security sector — not new loyalist factions,' she said.
It was far from clear Saturday if the agreement would hold. Druze and other minority communities in Syria have remained wary of Sharaa's government, doubting its commitment to inclusivity given its Sunni Islamist character. Their doubts extend to the forces the government commands, drawn from rebels that opposed Assad, among them militias long implicated in human rights violations, as well as foreign Islamist militants.
The fighting in Sweida has spurred impassioned appeals that transcended borders. From sandy berms where they were sought refuge from the violence, Bedouin women called on the Sunni governments of Saudi Arabia and Jordan for help. Druze citizens of Israel gathered at the fence with Syria, demanding to be let in to help friends and family across the border.
Long-standing communal tensions between Druze and Bedouin communities in Sweida have prompted previous interventions by Syria's central government, including under Assad.
Israel, which has opposed Sharaa's government, in word and deed, from the moment it took power, remains a wild card in the conflict. Israeli officials have likened Sharaa and his allies to the Islamic State militant group, demanded a portion of the country, south of Damascus, be demilitarized, and carried out repeated airstrikes, many of them targeting Syrian military sites.
In a post on X Saturday, Gideon Saar, Israel's foreign minister, accused Sharaa of peddling 'conspiracy theories' about Israel in his speech Saturday and said the 'international community' had a duty to ensure the protection of minorities in Syria.
Even if the violence in Sweida were to stop, a difficult reckoning awaits.
Among some in the government security services, there was a feeling that Sweida's Bedouin residents had suffered most. The Druze had carried out 'kidnappings and arrests of women and children,' said a military officer in the region, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Rabie Murshid, a Druze resident, said it was the Bedouins and their allies who had instigated the violence. 'They are burning the empty houses,' he said Friday. 'They killed the ones who stayed at home.'
Mouthana Hanawie, 45, from Sahwet Blatah, south of Sweida, said on Friday that 20 of his family members had been killed. He alleged the perpetrators were government security forces and masquerading as tribesmen who entered the village Monday. Those killed included his 21-year-old son, Anas. Other victims in his village 'were buried in mass graves,' he said, and 'many of them were unidentified.'
As the chaos continued Saturday, relatives of Sweida residents spent desperate hours trying to get news. Shatha, a 45-year-old woman who was outside the city, spoke to her parents at 5 a.m., when they were sleeping outside, among the trees, afraid that Bedouin gangs would attack their home.
When she spoke to them later in the day, they told her their house had been burned. 'The situation is disastrous,' Shatha said. 'I imagine that there are still many missing people, and no one knows anything about their fate.'