MAZRAA, Syria (AP) — Syria’s armed Bedouin clans announced Sunday they had withdrawn from the Druze-majority city of Sweida following weeklong clashes and a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, as humanitarian aid convoys started to enter the battered southern city.
The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria’s already fragile postwar transition. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins.
The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins.
A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the province, which later spread to Sweida city, the provincial capital. Government forces were redeployed to halt renewed fighting that erupted Thursday, before withdrawing again.
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who has been perceived as more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying that they “cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country’s affairs and restoring security.”
“We thank the Bedouins for their heroic stances but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state’s orders,” he said in an address broadcast Saturday.
Dozens of armed Bedouin fighters alongside other clans from around the country who came to support them remained on the outskirts of the city and were cordoned off by government security forces and military police. They blame the clashes on the Druze factions loyal to spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and accuse them of harming Bedouin families.
“We will not leave until he turns himself in alongside those with him who tried to stir sedition. And only then will we go home.” Khaled al-Mohammad, who came to the southern province alongside other tribesman from the eastern Deir al-Zour province, told The Associated Press.
Aid convoys enter Sweida but tensions persist
The Bedouins’ withdrawal brought a cautious calm to the area, with humanitarian convoys on their way. The Syrian Red Crescent said Sunday it sent 32 trucks loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported that the convoy entered Sweida on Sunday, but accused al-Hijri and his armed Druze supporters of turning back a government delegation that accompanied another convoy.
The Foreign Ministry in a statement said the convoy accompanying the delegation had two ambulances loaded with aid provided by local and international organizations.
Al-Hijri did not directly respond to the accusations but said in a statement that he welcomes any assistance for Sweida and slammed what he claims were distorted campaigns against him.
“We reaffirm that we have no dispute with anyone on any religious or ethnic basis,” the statement read. “Shame and disgrace be upon all those who seek to sow discord and hatred in the minds of young people.”
The U.N. International Organization for Migration said 128,571 people were displaced during the clashes, including 43,000 on Saturday alone.
US envoy appeals for an end to fighting
Washington’s special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, said the clashes and atrocities “overshadowed” an initial cautious optimism about the country’s post-war transition and the international community’s lifting of sanctions.
“All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,” Barrack said on X. “Syria stands at a critical juncture — peace and dialogue must prevail — and prevail now.”
Among those killed in the weeklong fighting were dozens of Druze civilians slain in a series of targeted attacks in the city at the hands of Bedouin fighters and government forces. Videos surfaced online of fighters destroying portraits of Druze religious officials and notables in homes, and shaving the mustaches of elderly Druze, seen as an insult to culture and tradition. Druze militias in return attacked Bedouin-majority areas in the outskirts of the province, forcing families to flee to neighboring Daraa province.
More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.
Syria’s Druze largely celebrated the downfall of the Assad family that ended decades of tyrannical rule. While they had concerns about Al-Sharaa’s de facto Islamist rule, a large number wanted to approach matters diplomatically. Al-Hijri and his supporters, though, have taken a more confrontational approach with Al-Sharaa, contrary to most other influential Druze figures. Critics also note al-Hijri’s previous allegiance to Assad.
However, the recent clashes and sectarian attacks on the minority community have made a growing number of Druze in the area more skeptical about Damascus’ new leadership and more doubtful of peaceful coexistence.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut.