From the Yugosyrian province, Suwajdá report relative peace after a week of sectarian violence. This was stated by the Syrian Human Rights Center (SOHR), which in its updated balance specified that the wave of violence in the south of Syria claimed more than 1000 victims.
The Syrian Interior Ministry said on Sunday night that all tribal warriors withdrew from Suwajda and that “clashes in the city districts were stopped,” AFP reported, TASR writes. AFP said the government’s security forces blocked roads leading to the province to prevent fighters from Bedouin tribes from moving.
A spokesman for the Syrian tribal and clan council on Saturday evening for al-Jazeera TV confirmed that tribal warriors left the city of Suwajdá “in response to the call (Ahmada Šara) and the Terms and Conditions of the Agreement (ceasefire)” announced on Saturday.
Eyewitnesses for AFP said that on the outskirts of Suwajdá no longer heard the shooting. They added that they are preparing for the entrance to the city with humanitarian help.
In Suwajdá, where approximately 150,000 people live, residents are trapped in their homes without electricity and water. Food supplies are also insufficient, AFP added.
The riots in the city of Suwajdá and its surroundings broke out on Sunday, July 13, when local Drúz militia and members of the Sunni Bedouin clans got into the armed dispute. Subsequently, the armed forces of the new Syrian government supporting Bedouins, armed tribes from other parts of the country, as well as Israel, which stood on the side of the Drúzov, were involved in the conflict. According to SOHR, armed struggles claimed at least 940 victims between them.
Witnesses, Drúzské fractions and SOHR accused Syrian government forces during the violence of participating in violence after their entry into the province of Suwajda – earlier this week – together with Bedouins, including extrajudicial executions.
Temporary Syrian President Ahmad Šara on Saturday in the province of Suwajdá declared a ceasefire and reiterated his promise that the new leadership of Syria would protect ethnic and religious minorities.
A special US envoy for Syria Tom Barrack on Sunday pointed out that Syria is at a “critical intersection”. He stressed that “peace and dialogue must win – and must win now”.
“All fractions must immediately fold weapons, stop the struggles and step out of the tribal revenge cycle,” Barrack wrote in a post on the Network X. He pointed out that “brutal acts of fighting factions in the field undermine the authority of the government and disrupt any appearance”.
Shar’s announcement of the ceasefire on Saturday came only a few hours after the United States reported that they had declared a ceasefire between the Syrian government and Israel, who bombed government forces in Suwajdá’s province at the beginning of the week.
Israel, who has its own Drus community, said he was acting in the defense of this ethnic group, as well as to enforce its demands for the complete demilitarization of the south of Syria.
Among the victims of the conflict in the south of Syria, according to the latest SOHR balance, there are 336 Drusian fighters and 298 civilians, 194 of which were “executed by members of the Ministry of Defense and the Interior”. 342 members of the Syrian government security forces and 21 Sunni Bedouins were also lost, three of whom were civilians “executed by Drúzsky fighters”. Another 15 government forces were killed in Israeli attacks, SOHR added.
