Syria: Dozens killed in sectarian clashes

Clashes between Bedouin Sunni tribes and Druze fighters in the southern city of Sweida have killed dozens of people. The area also saw deadly sectarian violence in April and May.At least 89 people have been killed in southern Syria amid clashes between members of Bedouin Sunni tribes and the Druze community, a war monitor said Monday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said the people had died in the fighting in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida. Forty-six of the dead were Druze fighters, four were civilians from Sweida and 18 of them were Bedouin fighters, SOHR reported. The death toll also included 14 security personnel and seven unidentified individuals in military uniform. The fighting marks the first wave of deadly violence in the area since clashes between the Druze community and Syrian security forces broke out in late April and early May, in which dozens of people died. Israeli military strikes tanks in Sweida On Monday, Israel's military said it struck several tanks in the Sweida province, where the clashes had raged for days. The military's Arabic language spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X that Israeli forces struck "several tanks a short while ago in the area of Sami village (in the Sweida region) in southern Syria. To be continued." Israel has previously intervened in Syria under the pretext of defending the Druze religious minority, with both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz saying Israel would not allow "any threat to the Druze community." Half of the Druze's worldwide population of roughly 1 million live in Syria. The rest are mostly situated in Lebanon and Israel, including the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 then annexed in 1981 in a move not internationally recognized. The religious minority is seen in Israel as a loyal one, often serving in the armed forces. But in Syria, many say they reject Israel's intervention on their behalf, though there remains growing fear for the minority's rights under the new leadership in place. On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Katz said in a statement on X the strikes were "a message and a clear warning to the Syrian regime -- we will not allow harm to be done to the Druze in Syria. Israel will not stand idly by." Long-running Bedouin-Druze feud The latest violence followed a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction Friday of a Druze merchant on the highway between Sweida and the Syrian capital, Damascus, according to Reuters, citing witnesses. Security forces have been deployed to the area, the state-run SANA news agency reported. In a statement on Monday morning, the Syrian Interior Ministry said it and the Ministry of Defense had deployed forces to "begin direct intervention" in order to "resolve the conflict, stop the clashes, and impose security." The Ministry blamed the "dangerous escalation" on the "absence of relevant official institutions" which has exacerbated "the state of chaos and deterioration of the security situation." It also blamed the "inability of the local community to contain the crisis despite repeated calls for calm." The unrest has forced secondary school exams scheduled for Monday in Sweida to be postponed. The Damascus-Sweida highway has also been closed. Syria's precarious security situation Before Syria’s civil war began in 2011, Sweida and its surrounding province were home to about 700,000 members of the Druze community. Sectarian violence between Bedouin and Druze factions has occasionally flared in Sweida amid a longstanding feud between the two communities. Since Syrian leader Bashar Assad was overthrown by Islamist-led rebels in December last year, the new government has struggled to maintain security in the deeply divided and ethnically diverse country. There have been concerns over the protection of minority groups' rights and their representation in the new, post-Assad regime. The deadly clashes in April and May between Druze militants and government forces ended with local and religious leaders agreeing to work toward containing the violence and integrating Druze fighters into the new government. Fears of sectarian strife also rose after hundreds of members of the Alawite community, to which Assad belonged, were killed in March. Those deaths appeared to be retaliation for an earlier attack by supporters of the ousted ruler. Edited by: Louis Oelofse