A cease-fire has brought calm to the city of Sweida in southwestern Syria over the past few days after a wave of sectarian violence, but clashes continued in the surrounding countryside as recently as the weekend.
The atmosphere remains tense, with shortages of electricity and water and long lines for bread in the city, according to public statements from local officials and residents and an aid worker reached by telephone.
The latest conflict began in mid-July with clashes between two local groups — the Bedouins and the Druse. During five days of intense fighting, the government made a short attempt to intervene.
Its forces soon became embroiled in fighting the Druse militias, who are themselves divided but hold sway over much of Sweida Province. Israel then launched airstrikes and said it was acting in defense of the Druse, forcing the government to withdraw its troops from much of the province.
When the worst was over, more than 1,000 people were dead, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, a nongovernmental organization. About 175,000 people were displaced, the U.N. office for humanitarian affairs said. A majority of those killed seemed to have been combatants, government soldiers and others, according to figures recorded by rights organizations. Two human rights groups have said that at least 80 to 100 civilians were among those killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based organization, has reported that more than 200 of those killed had been executed by gunmen affiliated with the Syrian government. Those numbers could not be independently confirmed.
The government has condemned and promised to investigate reports of extrajudicial killings by all parties to the clashes. The Justice Ministry announced on Thursday the formation of a seven-member committee of judges, lawyers and a general to investigate violations, but the Sweida Bar Association said that it did not accept the government’s commission and called for an international one.
This was the third major wave of sectarian violence in Syria since a new government led by Islamist rebels who toppled Bashar al-Assad, the country’s longtime dictator, took power in December. The unrest has tested the government’s promises to protect minorities and form an inclusive government as part of efforts to end Syria’s international isolation.
A cease-fire between Syrian government troops and the armed Druse militias that control much of Sweida Province was reached on July 19, though low-level clashes have persisted. The truce allowed humanitarian aid convoys to reach Sweida.
Government troops guard a checkpoint at Busra al-Sham, south of Sweida city, which has become the main entry point for aid convoys into the Druse-controlled part of Sweida Province. Journalists are not permitted to travel into the Druse-controlled area.
Bedouin families continued to leave the province last week, assisted by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent organization.
Fighting broke out again Sunday. The Syrian government said Druse fighters had attacked a government position overlooking the city of Sweida, killing one government officer and wounding several other people. The government later retook the position, SANA, Syria’s state news agency, reported.
The roads around Sweida Province were busy, with government troops and volunteer fighters driving pickups and motorbikes moving toward the front line in Sweida Province on Sunday.
Emotions were still running high. Government soldiers interviewed at checkpoints or at roadside stops in the government-controlled area around the conflict zone said that hundreds of their men had been killed or were still missing from the heavy fighting that broke out in July against the Druse militias.
Government troops said they were abiding by the cease-fire, but it has taken the government days to rein in volunteer fighters who rushed to the region in support of the Bedouins’ appeal for help.
“The government told us we could not shoot one bullet at the Druse,” said Abu Faruq, 39, a government soldier who said he was still on active duty near Sweida. “But if the Druse hit our interior ministry forces, we will move.” He would give only his nom de guerre, according to military protocol.
Dozens of volunteer fighters were camped in private houses and a mosque near the front line, north of Sweida city. Several of the volunteers said in interviews outside a mosque that they had traveled from other parts of Syria to support the Bedouin fighters and were still making incursions on recent nights into Druse-held villages, looking for opponents.
The volunteer fighters said they had been ordered to go home by government forces, but said they would stay until all of the Bedouin civilians had been evacuated from Druse areas and their comrades in arms had been released.
The government has not commented on the continued presence of the volunteers.
The Druse and the government are still at loggerheads. The Druse have negotiated with the government, which wants to incorporate their militias, along with other armed groups in the country, into a single military force. So far the Druse have resisted.
Saad Alnassife, Muhammad Haj Kadour and Reham Mourshed contributed reporting.
Carlotta Gall is a senior correspondent, covering the war in Ukraine.
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