The Syrian presidency today announced a “immediate ceasefire” in the Sueida province, in the south, where security forces began to develop after the inter -communal conflicts in which more than 900 people died in about a week.
In a statement, the Syrian Presidency calls on “all sides to fully respect” the ceasefire and to stop violence.
Syrian security forces began to develop today in this province where the majority of residents are Drouz, following the US announcement of an agreement between Syria and Israel, which has so far opposed the presence of Syrian government forces in the region.
The Syrian government, led by Islamists, said that its security forces are being developed in the southern city of Sweden, where they live mainly Druzo, and called on all places to respect the ceasefire after days of bloodshed between the factions, in which they have been killed.
Temporary President Ahmed al-Saraa said in a separate speech that the “Arabic and American” mediation helped to be calm and criticized Israel for air strikes against Syrian government forces in the south and Damascus.
However, the truce is fragile. One resident said that shootings were heard from inside the suede early Saturday. A video verified by Reuters showed government forces on the streets and smoke rising on the streets, while shots were heard in the background.
Violence around the suede is the latest challenge to control the Damascus government, dominated by Islamists and who took power after overthrowing authoritarian President Bashar al -Assad from the rebels in December.
Israeli – USA controversy
It has attracted neighboring Israel, which carried air raids in southern Syria and the Damascus Ministry of Defense this week. Israel says it protects the minority of the Drussians, of which there is a significant number in Israel and the Golan Highlands occupied by Israeli.
But Israel is in conflict with Washington. The United States is supporting a centralized Syria under the Saraa government, which is committed to governing all citizens, while Israel says the government is dominated by jihadists and is a risk to minorities.
In March, the Syrian army was involved in mass murders of members of the Alawite minority, which belonged to much of Assad’s elite. He also clashed with armed Druze in May.
Sueida province has been flooded with almost a week of violence, which began with conflicts between Bedouin fighters and Drouzo teams, before government security forces were sent.
In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian Presidency announced immediate and overall ceasefire and called on all parties to end hostilities immediately. The interior ministry said the internal security forces began to develop in the suede.
Saraa was calm and said that Syria would not be a “field of testing for partition, secession or religious incitement”. “Israeli intervention has pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatens its stability,” he said in a television profession.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused the speech of being on the side of the perpetrators. “In Syria of Al-Sara, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority-Kurds, Drungus, Alawites or Christians,” he wrote in X. “This has been proven again and again in the last six months.”
Approaching 1000 the dead
The inter -communal violence in the Sueida province, mainly inhabited by Drouzas in southern Syria, has cost 940 people in a week, according to a new report released today by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
As this non -governmental organization explained, 588 Drouz – 326 fighters and 262 civilians – were killed, of which 182 “were executed by summary procedures by members (of the forces) subject to the Ministries of Defense and Internal Affairs”.
Among the dead are 312 members of the Syrian government forces and 21 Sunni Bedouin fighters, including three civilians who were “executed by brief procedures by Druze fighters”, according to the Observatory.
In addition, 15 members of the government forces were killed in Israeli blows, according to the non -governmental organization.
