Calm returns to south Syria after violence

Calm returned to southern Syria’s Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that killed more than 1,000 people.

A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals the Druze and the Bedouin that spiralled to draw in the government, the Israeli military and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported hearing no clashes on Sunday morning, with government forces deployed in some locations in the province to enforce the truce.

The first humanitarian aid convoy entered the city on Sunday, Red Crescent official Omar al-Malki said, adding that it would be followed by others.

He said the convoy came “in coordination with the government bodies and the local authorities in Sweida”, which are controlled by the Druze.

The Syrian government meanwhile said a Druze group blocked its own convoy from entering the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since around midnight (2100 GMT Saturday), “Sweida has been experiencing a cautious calm”, adding government security forces had blocked roads leading to the province in order to prevent tribal fighters from going there.

The Britain-based Observatory gave an updated toll on Sunday of more than 1,000 killed since the violence erupted a week ago, including 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians from the minority group, as well as 342 government security personnel and 21 Bedouin.

Witnesses, Druze factions and the Observatory have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses including summary executions when they entered Sweida days ago.

Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP that “the city hasn’t seen calm like this in a week”.

The interior ministry said overnight that Sweida city was “evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighbourhoods were halted”.

The Observatory had said Druze fighters retook control of the city on Saturday evening.

Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa had on Saturday announced a ceasefire in Sweida and renewed a pledge to protect Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities in the face of the latest sectarian violence since Islamists overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December.

Agence France-Presse