Syrian troops enter Druze city of Suwayda after days of deadly clashes

Government forces announce ceasefire after clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes kill dozens in the southern Syrian city.

Israel has launched air strikes on Syria’s Suwayda after Syrian government forces entered the predominantly Druze city to end the deadly clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed dozens of people.

Shortly after the deployment of troops on Tuesday, Syria’s Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra announced a ceasefire, saying an agreement has been reached with the city’s “notables and dignitaries”.

“To all units operating within the city of Suwayda, we declare a complete ceasefire,” Abu Qasra posted on X.

A curfew was also imposed on the city in a bid to halt the violence, which erupted during the weekend and has since spread across the Suwayda governorate, killing at least 99 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

The dead include 60 Druze, including four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security personnel and seven unidentified people in military uniforms, the monitor said. The Ministry of Defence reported 18 deaths among the armed forces.

The Druze spiritual leadership had earlier resisted any deployment of Syrian troops in the southern city, but then urged Druze fighters to lay down their arms and allow government forces in.

On Tuesday afternoon, Druze political leadership changed course, with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, who has been strongly opposed to the new leadership in Damascus, saying that Syrian troops had breached any arrangements by continuing to fire on residents.

“We are being subject to a total war of extermination,” he said in a recorded video statement, calling on all Druze “to confront this barbaric campaign with all means available”.

Israel, meanwhile, had vowed to protect the Druze, which it sees as potential allies.

Earlier on Tuesday, Syrian military columns were seen advancing towards Suwayda, with heavy artillery deployed nearby. The Defence Ministry later said they had entered the city, and urged people to “stay home and report any movements of outlaw groups”.

It was the first time government forces were deployed to Suwayda since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December and the formation of an interim government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The Druze religious sect is a minority group that originated as a 10th-century offshoot of a branch of Shia Islam. In Syria, the 700,000-strong community primarily resides in the southern Suwayda province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.

Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Suwayda, with violence occasionally erupting.

Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Deir Az Azor in Syria, said fighting in the city had been ongoing since Friday.

“It escalated and more than two dozen people were killed. The government sent its reinforcements and then there was an ambush of the government troops as well, where at least 18 soldiers we believe were either killed or wounded,” he said.

Bin Javaid said the situation has been exacerbated by Israeli attacks on government positions in Syria.

Israel, which has attempted to portray itself as a protector of the Druze in Syria and sees them as potential allies, bombed several Syrian tanks on Monday.

“There have been a number of attacks by Israel, and the Israelis have said that any movement of personnel or hardware in the south of Syria will continue to be monitored by the Israeli army and [they] will continue to attack them as well,” Bin Javaid said.

Source:

Al Jazeera and news agencies