Syria's sectarian clashes continue

ARMED tribes supported by Syria’s Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters outside Sweida yesterday, a day after government troops withdrew from the Druze-majority city, the warring parties and a monitoring group said.

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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “clashes west of Sweida pitting tribal fighters and Bedouin supported by the authorities on one side, against Druze fighters on the other”.

Combatants on both sides confirmed the clashes.

Syrian government forces withdrew from Sweida province on Thursday after coming under heavy bombardment by Israel. The pullout from Syria’s Druze heartland came on the orders of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who said mediation by the US and others had helped avert a “large-scale escalation” with Israel.

Nearly 600 people have been killed in Sweida province since Sunday, according to the Observatory, as Druze fighters clashed with Sunni Bedouin tribes, who were later joined by government forces.

A ceasefire took effect on Thursday, but Sharaa’s office accused Druze groups of violating the agreement.

Tribal fighters gathered around Sweida yesterday to reinforce the Bedouin, positioning themselves in several villages near the city.

AFP correspondents heard intermittent gunfire and explosions and saw smoke rising from the villages.

Druze fighters said they were responding to the sources of fire.

Anas al-Enad, a tribal chief from the central city of Hama, said he and his men had made the journey to the village of Walgha, northwest of Sweida, because “the Bedouin called for our help and we came to support them”.

The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said that community leaders would resume control over security in Sweida “based on the supreme national interest”, after the deployment of government troops on Tuesday fuelled the intercommunal bloodshed and prompted Israeli military intervention.