Clashes with local armed groups in Syria’s Druze-majority province of Sweida left 10 government security personnel wounded, state media reported Tuesday.
The unrest, which took place on Monday, came after two civilians were killed in similar clashes west of Sweida city, according to two local security sources.
Syrian state television, citing the Internal Security Command in Sweida province, said the number of wounded personnel had risen to 10 after “outlaw groups” targeted points in the Tal Hadid area and the Walgha axis.
State media had previously reported that four were wounded “while confronting attacks by outlaw groups in the western countryside of Sweida.”
Sweida city and other parts of the southern province are under the control of local armed groups and constitute the last areas outside the power of Syria’s new government after the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad.
Among those groups is the so-called National Guard, which is affiliated with Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri.
Tensions have been high in Sweida since clashes between Druze and government-aligned forces last year led to some of the worst communal violence since the fall of al-Assad.
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