Violence explodes in Suweideh

Syrian government forces are combatting rebels on the road connecting Damascus and the southeastern, Druze-majority city of Suweideh on Thursday, as rebel groups destroyed sections of the road with explosives planted in sewage drains.

The clashes centered in the towns of Buraq and Sura, 53 kilometers northwest of a-Suweideh, and come a day after rebel shelling killed two and injured 17 travelling in a convoy near the village of a-Dama, 20 kilometers further southeast on the a-Suweideh-Damascus artery.

Pro-government television channel Sama reported that the attack was “the work of terrorists aimed at resulting in the largest number of dead and wounded from civilians.”

Through three years of conflict, the majority-Druze province of a-Suweideh on Syria’s southern border with Jordan has witnessed very little violence, despite rebels’ ongoing struggle to consolidate control of Daraa province to the west. By Syria Direct