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Syrian government says fighting in Sweida halted after tribal forces pull out

Fighting in Syria’s Sweida “halted” on Sunday, the government said, after the southern city was recaptured by Druze fighters and state forces redeployed to the region where more than 900 people have been killed in sectarian violence.

Druze fighters had pushed out rival armed factions from the city on Saturday, a monitor said, after the government ordered a ceasefire following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention.

Sweida was “evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” Syria’s interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said in a post on Telegram.

Israel had bombed government forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier this week to force their withdrawal after they were accused of summary executions and other abuses against Druze civilians during their brief deployment in the southern province.

More than 900 people have been killed in Sweida since last Sunday as sectarian clashes between the Druze and Bedouin drew in the government, Israel and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

Earlier Saturday, an AFP correspondent saw dozens of torched homes and vehicles and armed men setting fire to shops after looting them.

But in the evening, Bassem Fakhr, spokesman for the Men of Dignity, one of the two largest Druze armed groups, told AFP there was “no Bedouin presence in the city.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor also said “tribal fighters withdrew from Sweida city on Saturday evening” after Druze fighters launched a large-scale attack.

Fighting nonetheless persisted in other parts of Sweida province, even as the Druze regained control of their city following days of fierce battle with armed Bedouin supported by tribal gunmen from other parts of Syria.

The deal between the government and Israel had been announced by Washington early Saturday.

US pointman on Syria Tom Barrack said President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “have agreed to a ceasefire” negotiated by the United States.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later called on the Syrian government’s security forces to prevent extremists from entering and “carrying out massacres,” in a post on X.

He also urged the Syrian government to “hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.”

Barrack, who is the US ambassador to Ankara, said the deal had the backing of Turkey, a key supporter of al-Sharaa, as well as neighboring Jordan.

Barrack later held a meeting in Amman with the Syrian and Jordanian top diplomats, during which they “agreed on practical steps to support Syria in implementing the agreement,” the US envoy said in a later post on X.

Al-Sharaa followed up on the US announcement with a televised speech in which he announced an immediate ceasefire in Sweida and renewed his pledge to protect Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities.

“The Syrian state is committed to protecting all minorities and communities in the country... We condemn all crimes committed” in Sweida, he said.

The president paid tribute to the “important role played by the United States, which again showed its support for Syria in these difficult circumstances and its concern for the country’s stability.”

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said at least 940 people had been killed in the violence since Sunday.

Syria’s Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa on Saturday evening said that after the first phase of the ceasefire, which began on Saturday and involved the deployment of security forces to the province, a second phase would see the opening of humanitarian corridors.

According to the United Nations, the fighting has displaced least 87,000 people.

Al Arabiya, AFP

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