At least 594 people have been killed in southern Syria's Sweida province, a war monitor said Thursday, giving an updated toll from several days of clashes and the deployment of government forces.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights counted 300 Druze from Sweida among the dead, including 154 civilians, of whom 83 "who were summarily executed by members of the defence and interior ministries". The violence also claimed the lives of 257 government personnel and 18 Bedouin fighters, plus three members of Bedouin tribes "who were summarily executed by Druze fighters".
Fifteen more government personnel were killed in Israeli air strikes, while a journalist was also killed covering the clashes.
Earlier, Syrian Bedouin fighters launched a new offensive in Sweida against Druze fighters, a Bedouin military commander told Reuters, despite a truce that had been announced the previous evening to end days of bloody fighting.
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The commander said the truce only applied to government forces and not to them, and said the Bedouin fighters were seeking to free Bedouins who had been detained by Druze armed groups in recent days.
Syrian state media also reported fresh Israeli strikes near the Syrian Druze-majority city of Sweida on Thursday, the first attack on the area after Syrian government forces withdrew following clashes with local fighters.
Read moreWho are the Druze, and why are they at the heart of Syria-Israel tensions?
Syria's state-run SANA said "Israeli occupation aircraft carried out a raid on the outskirts of Sweida city".
Syrian forces had withdrawn from Sweida earlier on Thursday after deadly clashes with Druze fighters accompanied by Israeli strikes and diplomatic pressure to retreat from the area.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters and AFP)
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