SWEIDA, Syria (BN24) — Sectarian violence reignited Saturday in southern Syria’s Druze-majority region, where machine gun fire and mortar blasts echoed through Sweida despite a government-declared ceasefire aimed at halting nearly a week of deadly unrest.
The renewed clashes between Druze factions and Bedouin tribes erupted as government forces tried to assert control in the volatile province. Shells struck surrounding villages, and gunfire rang out in the city, Reuters reporters on the ground said. No immediate casualty toll was confirmed, but a local hospital reported dozens of injuries.
The breakdown in the truce comes as interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa’s Islamist-led government grapples with maintaining authority in the wake of the December ousting of longtime strongman Bashar Assad. Sweida, long a center of Druze resistance, has become a flashpoint for intercommunal fighting and a test of the new administration’s ability to stabilize the fractured nation.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimated at least 940 people have died in the Sweida clashes since they began last week, though the number could not be independently verified.
Al-Sharaa blamed the escalation on revenge attacks carried out by Druze gunmen and pointed fingers at Israeli involvement, saying airstrikes carried out this week had deepened the crisis and threatened Syrian unity. “The Israeli intervention pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability,” he said in a televised address.
Israel confirmed it conducted airstrikes in southern Syria and on the Defense Ministry in Damascus, claiming it was acting in defense of the Druze — a religious minority that also has a significant presence in Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar denounced Al-Sharaa’s response, accusing him of enabling persecution against minorities.
“In Al-Sharaa’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority — Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian,” Saar posted on X.
U.S. envoy Tom Barrack, who also serves as ambassador to Turkiye, announced that Washington and Israel had brokered a ceasefire agreement. But by Saturday, the fighting had already resumed.
Barrack called on all communities — including Druze, Bedouins, Sunnis and others — to “build a new and united Syrian identity.” The U.S. continues to back Al-Sharaa’s central government despite growing concerns about sectarian violence under its rule, while Israel remains wary of Islamist dominance in Damascus.
Government forces were reportedly granted temporary access to Sweida under an Israeli-brokered deal, but their presence only further stoked tensions, with reports of direct clashes with Druze gunmen in the city’s outskirts.
Inside Sweida, the regional hospital was overwhelmed by casualties. Dr. Omar Obeid, the hospital’s director, described the influx of wounded and dead.
“All the injuries are from bombs — chest wounds, shrapnel to limbs, it’s constant,” Obeid said. “There’s no space left, and no end in sight.”
Residents of nearby villages said mortar fire continued throughout Saturday afternoon. “We thought the ceasefire would bring calm,” said Mansour Namour, a villager near Sweida. “But the shells haven’t stopped.”
Syria’s Interior Ministry said it had begun deploying security forces in the region to enforce order. But critics say the government has lost the trust of local populations, especially among minorities who see the current leadership as sectarian and repressive.
Al-Sharaa vowed Syria would remain whole and warned against “partition, secession or sectarian incitement.” Still, as fighting raged on and rival powers clashed over influence, the country’s southern front remained on the edge.
