SYRIA – The Syrian government says clashes in the southern city of Suwayda have stopped after a week of violence left hundreds of people dead, drawing Israeli intervention and US condemnation.
A ceasefire agreement reached by the government, Druze groups and Bedouin tribes on Saturday appeared to be holding Sunday, but communications with the province remain difficult. There were no reports of gunfire in the city of Suwayda Sunday.
“After several bloody days in Suwayda province, the Internal Security Forces have succeeded in calming the situation following their deployment in the northern and western areas,” Syria’s interior minister Anas Khattab said in a post on X. “They managed to enforce the ceasefire within the city of Suwayda, paving the way for a prisoner exchange phase and the gradual restoration of stability across the province,” he continued. The prisoner exchange is yet to happen. The US envoy to Syria, Thomas Barrack, said on X Sunday: “Escalating hostilities can only be contained with an agreement to pause violence, protect the innocent, allow humanitarian access, and step back from danger.”
An aid convoy from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) entered Suwayda province on Sunday afternoon carrying medicine and food but elsewhere the Syrian health ministry said it was denied access.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Saturday called on the Syrian government to use its security forces to prevent “violent jihadists” from entering Suwayda and “carrying out massacres.”
Bedouin tribal fighters were involved in clashes with Druze groups on the western edges of the city on Saturday.
One of the Druze groups - the Spiritual Leadership faction – accused Bedouin groups of failing to uphold the ceasefire and demanded “the full withdrawal of all forces affiliated with the Damascus government, including the army, security agencies, and militias, from the mountain area and all its towns and villages.” Violence erupted in Suwayda last week, after Syrian government forces intervened in clashes between the Druze and local Bedouin tribes.
The Druze are an Arab religious group that practices an offshoot of Islam which permits no converts – either to or from the religion – and no intermarriage. The semi-nomadic Bedouin group is predominantly tribal, with family trees that extend into Gaza and Egypt’s northern Sinai. The involvement of the Syrian government in the Suwayda clashes triggered Israel to carry out airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday. (CNN)
