Syria’s defence minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province yesterday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there.
Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, saying it was protecting the Druze minority.
The latest escalation under Syria’s new leaders began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a centre of the Druze community.
Syrian government forces, sent to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups.
Yesterday, Syrian Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said an agreement was struck with the city’s “notables and dignitaries” and that government forces would “respond only to the sources of fire and deal with any targeting by outlaw groups.”
However, scattered clashes continued after his announcement – as did allegations that security forces had committed violations against civilians.
Syria’s Interior Ministry said on Monday that more than 30 people had been killed, but has not updated the figures since.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said yesterday that 166 people had been killed since Sunday, including five women and two children.
Syrian interim President Ahmad Al Sharaa said in a statement that he had tasked authorities with “taking immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed a transgression or abuse, regardless of their rank or position.”
Journalists in Sweida province saw forces at a government checkpoint searching cars and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers.
Israeli air strikes targeted government forces’ convoys heading into the provincial capital of Sweida and in other areas of southern Syria.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes sought to “prevent the Syrian regime from harming” the Druze religious minority “and to ensure disarmament in the area adjacent to our borders with Syria.”
In Israel, the Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces.
Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called on X for Al Sharaa to be “eliminated without delay.”
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