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Arab News
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Syrian government forces set to reenter Sweida province after renewed Druze-Bedouin clashes
MAZRAA: Renewed clashes broke out overnight between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, and government forces were preparing to deploy again to the area Friday after pulling out under a ceasefire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week, officials said. Government security forces agreed with some of the Druze factions that they would re-enter the area to impose stability and protect state institutions, according to two Syrian officials who spoke Friday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. Israel agreed to allow limited access by Syrian forces into the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days, an Israeli official said on Friday after days of bloodshed in and around Syria's Druze city of Sweida 'In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the (Syrian) internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours,' the official, who declined to be named, told reporters. Syrian government forces had largely pulled out of the Druze-majority southern province of Sweida after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze religious minority that threatened to unravel the country's fragile post-war transition. The conflict drew airstrikes against Syrian forces by neighboring Israel before most of the fighting was halted by a truce announced Wednesday that was mediated by the US, Turkiye and Arab countries. Under that agreement, Druze factions and clerics would be left to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria's interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa said Thursday. The clashes initially began between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes Sunday before government forces intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up taking the Bedouins' side against the Druze. The fighting killed hundreds of people over four days, with allegations that government-affiliated fighters executed Druze civilians and looted and burned homes. Israel intervened, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and striking the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters in central Damascus in a major escalation of its involvement. The Druze form a substantial community in Israel, where they are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the Israeli military. After the ceasefire and withdrawal of government forces, clashes once again flared between the Druze and Bedouin groups in parts of Sweida province. State media reported Druze militias carried out revenge attacks against Bedouin communities, leading to a wave of displacement. The governor of neighboring Daraa province said in a statement that more than 1,000 families had been displaced to the area from Sweida as a result of 'attacks on Bedouin tribes by outlaw groups.' Meanwhile, Bedouin groups arrived Friday from other areas of Syria to join the fight. On the outskirts of Sweida, groups of them gathered in front of buildings that had been set ablaze. An armed man who gave his name only as Abu Mariam ('father of Mariam') said he had come from the eastern province of Deir ez-Zor to 'support the oppressed.' 'We will not return to our homes until we crush Al-Hijri and his ilk,' he said, referring to a prominent Druze leader opposed to the government in Damascus, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri. 'We have nothing to do with civilians and innocent people as long as they stay in their homes.' The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of 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. While predominantly Druze, Sweida is also home to Bedouin tribes who are Sunni Muslim and have periodically clashed with the Druze over the years. The latest escalation began with members of a Bedouin tribe in Sweida setting up a checkpoint and attacking and robbing a Druze man, which triggered tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings. Ahmed Aba Zeid, a Syrian researcher who has studied armed groups in southern Syria, said there is 'no specific reason' for the historic tensions between the groups. 'All of Syria is full of social problems that have no reason,' he said. In this case, however, 'The state exploited the latest problem to try to change the situation in Sweida, and this only increased the scope of it,' he said. Israel's deep distrust of Syria's new Islamist-led leadership appears to be at odds with the United States, which said it did not support the recent Israeli strikes on Syria. The US intervened to help secure the earlier truce between government forces and Druze fighters, and the White House said on Thursday that it appeared to be holding. Syrian leader Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who has worked to establish warmer ties with the US, accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority. With Agencies


Washington Post
a day ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Syrian government forces set to re-enter Sweida province after renewed Druze-Bedouin clashes
DAMASCUS, Syria — Renewed clashes broke out overnight between Druze armed groups and members of Bedouin clans in southern Syria, and government forces were preparing to deploy again to the area Friday after pulling out under a ceasefire agreement that halted several days of violence earlier this week, officials said.


Al Jazeera
2 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Syrian leader pledges security for all, slams Israeli strikes on Damascus
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says protecting the country's Druze citizens and their rights is a priority as he announces that local leaders will take control of security in the city of Suwayda in a bid to end sectarian violence in the south and in the wake of deadly Israeli strikes in Damascus. In a televised speech on Thursday, the Syrian leader addressed days of fierce fighting involving Druze armed groups, Bedouin tribes and government forces in the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda. Israel, which sees the Druze as allies, launched a series of strikes near Syria's presidential palace and on the military headquarters in the heart of Damascus on Wednesday, warning Syria it would escalate its attacks further if government forces did not withdraw from the south and halt attacks against the Druze community. 'We are eager on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people because they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,' al-Sharaa said in the speech, describing the minority as 'a fundamental part of the fabric of this nation'. 'We affirm that protecting your rights and freedoms is among our top priorities,' he said. 'We reject any attempt, foreign or domestic, to sow division within our ranks.' Al-Sharaa said 'responsibility' for security in the violence-plagued area would be handed over to religious elders and some local factions 'based on the supreme national interest'. At least 169 people have been killed in the violence in southern Syria in recent days, local sources told Al Jazeera, while the United Kingdom-based war monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said more than 360 people have been killed. Troops withdraw Al-Sharaa's remarks came after the Syrian government and Druze leader Sheikh Yousef Jarbou announced a new ceasefire in the city and said the army had begun withdrawing from Suwayda. Dozens of Syrian military vehicles were seen leaving the city overnight. Reporting from Suwayda, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr said 'a tense calm' had settled on the city on Thursday morning. 'Whether or not it will hold, we have to wait and see,' she said. She said the Druze community, a small but influential minority in both Syria and Israel, was 'divided' over its stance towards the new Syrian authorities, who took over after the fall of longtime President Bashar al-Assad in December. Jarbou, who said he agreed to the ceasefire, condemned the Israeli strikes on Syria, telling Al Jazeera Arabic that 'any attack on the Syrian state is an attack on the Druze community.' But another influential Druze leader in the city, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajari, said he rejected the ceasefire and promised to continue fighting until Suwayda was 'entirely liberated'. Khodr said al-Hajari's whereabouts were unknown, and it was unclear whether fighters affiliated with him would 'continue to put up a fight'. 'Israeli entity has targeted our stability and sowed discord' In his speech, al-Sharaa called for national unity, saying: 'The building of a new Syria requires all of us to stand united behind our state, to commit to its principles and to place the interest of the nation above any personal or limited interest.' Addressing the Druze community, he said the government rejected 'any attempt to drag you into the hands of an external party', in a pointed reference to Israel's deadly intervention in the conflict. 'The Israeli entity, which has consistently targeted our stability and sowed discord since the fall of the former regime, now seeks once again to turn our sacred land into a theatre of endless chaos,' he said. 'We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction.' He added that Israel's strikes, including those that killed three people and injured 34 in Damascus on Wednesday, could have pushed 'matters to a large-scale escalation if it were not for the intervention of US, Turkish and Arab mediators, 'which saved the region from an unknown fate'. The United States, which has softened its stance towards Syria and is trying to re-engage and support the country's reconstruction after more than 13 years of war, has been eager to de-escalate the conflict, which Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce called 'a misunderstanding between new neighbours'. The US called on Syria on Wednesday to withdraw its troops from the southern border area to de-escalate tensions. Actions 'louder than words' Speaking to Al Jazeera, Mohamad Elmasry, professor of media studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, said al-Sharaa's speech contained encouraging messages about the place of the Druze minority in Syrian society. 'He said that the Druze are an essential component,' Elmasry said. 'He said it's the Syrian government's responsibility to protect them and to hold to account those who have transgressed against them in recent days.' But he said it would all come down to how his government behaved in the aftermath of the speech. 'I think their actions will speak louder than words for those minority groups in Syria.' He said the speech also contained a note of warning to Israel that al-Sharaa's government did not fear war and that 'anyone who starts a war with Syria … would regret it.' 'These were messages directed at Israel, and it marked a very significant departure from what we've heard from him and at times not heard from him when Israel has attacked Syria,' Elmasry said. 'I think we're at a potentially dangerous tipping point, and it really will come down to, I think, the extent to which [President] Donald Trump and the United States are willing to kind of rein in Israel,' he said. 'It's a very difficult situation in Syria. You are talking about a very multiethnic society. You have outside forces, starting with Israel, trying to basically fragment the country and establish a separatist system, if you will, in Syria,' Elmasry said. Cycle of violence The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between Druze armed factions and local Sunni Bedouin tribes in Suwayda province. Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze, and Syrian soldiers were reported to have committed abuses, according to local monitors and analysts. The actions committed by members of the security forces – acknowledged as 'unlawful criminal acts' by the Syrian presidency – have given Israel a pretext to bombard Syria as it builds military bases in the Golan Heights in the demilitarised buffer zone with Syria on land seized by its forces. Fighting previously broke out between government troops and Druze fighters in April and May, killing dozens of people. Local leaders and religious figures responded by signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new Syrian administration. The Druze developed their own militias during the Syrian war. Since al-Assad's fall, Druze factions have been operating with a degree of autonomy in Suwayda and its surrounding areas, Khodr said. Israel has been trying to expand its control in southern Syria since al-Assad's fall and has repeatedly bombed the country this year. During the fighting in Suwayda, Israel demanded the Syrian troop withdrawal to create a demilitarised zone in southern Syria and has been moving its ground forces deeper into the Golan Heights.

ABC News
2 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Israel strikes on Syria on hold
At this stage, it appears Israel has stopped its bombing of Syrian government forces but the situation is being monitored. Israel's intervention came after days of violence in Syria involving those government forces, local Bedouin clans and militia from the religious minority Druze community which Israel has vowed to protect.


Arab News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Arab News
PHOTO GALLERY: Massive demonstrations in Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria's internal affairs
Israel's airstrikes blew up part of Syria's defense ministry and hit near the presidential palace as it vowed to destroy government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria and demanded they withdraw. People took to the streets of Aleppo in rejection of foreign intervention in Syria's internal affairs.