Fierce fighting broke out once again Friday in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida region as armed Bedouin tribal factions, backed by Syria’s Islamist-led interim government, clashed with local Druze fighters at the city’s entrance, AFP reported.
The confrontation follows the Syrian army’s Thursday withdrawal from Sweida after Israeli airstrikes and intense diplomatic pressure. Following the latest outburst, Syria’s government announced on Friday evening that it will redeploy forces to the area.
The conflict has already claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The United Nations has demanded an end to the "bloodshed" and an "independent, prompt and transparent investigation into all violations." UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk emphasized that "the protection of all people must be the utmost priority."
Renewed hostilities erupted as some 200 tribal fighters engaged Druze combatants in street-level exchanges using machine guns and shells, while shelling struck city neighborhoods, SOHR and AFP reported.
The International Committee for the Red Cross warned: "Health facilities are overwhelmed, medical supplies are dwindling and power cuts are impeding the preservation of human remains in overflowing morgues." Stephan Sakalian, ICRC’s Syria chief, described the situation as "critical. People are running out of everything."
The renewed outbreak of violence marks the bloodiest escalation since Druze protests and military clashes in April-May around Sweida and Damascus, which left more than 100 dead.
The Syrian army’s withdrawal from Sweida came after the IDF carried out strikes on the Syrian regime's central headquarters as well as the presidential palace in Damascus.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa later delivered a televised speech in which he accused Israel of attempting to undermine Syria’s internal stability.
“The Israeli entity has always accustomed us to attempts to harm our stability and create fratricidal wars - since the fall of the Assad regime,” he claimed.
Al-Sharaa further claimed that Israel aims to turn Syria into a zone of anarchy, drag it into internal conflicts, and divide the country.
He stated that Syria faced a choice of direct confrontation with Israel but chose, in his words, the interest of the Syrian people, entrusting the responsibility for maintaining security in the Sweida region to local factions and the Druze leadership.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)