More than 50 people have been killed in a second day of sectarian violence in Syria between Bedouin groups and militias from the Druse religious minority, according to a local health official and a monitoring group.
The clashes in the southern province of Sweida underscore the difficulty the new government led by President Ahmed al-Shara has had in asserting control over the country since ousting the regime of Bashar al-Assad in December. The Druse militias have resisted efforts by the government to unify all armed groups under its authority.
In the clashes that began on Sunday, more than 150 people were injured, said a local health official who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.
More than two children were among the dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.
The Syrian government called for restraint and sent military forces to “quickly and decisively” resolve the conflict, the Defense Ministry said in a statement released on social media. It added that its forces were providing safe passage for civilians trying to flee the area.
Eighteen soldiers who were sent to the region to quell the violence on Monday were killed, according to a defense official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about sensitive matters related to military activities.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the military had sent reinforcements to protect security checkpoints that had been attacked by the Druse groups and was backing the local tribal fighters.
Neighboring Israel also intervened in the violence, bombarding several tanks that were advancing toward Sweida, according to the Israeli military. In a statement, the military said it attacked to prevent hostile forces from amassing in southern Syria.
Israel Katz, the Israeli defense minister, called the strikes an attempt to send a “clear warning” to the Syrian government: “We will not allow harm to come to the Druze in Syria. Israel will not stand idly by.”
Israel is home to a significant Druse minority, many of whom serve in the military. Israeli leaders have offered to protect Syrian Druse should they come under attack during the country’s post-Assad transition. Many Syrian Druse reject that offer, wary what they consider potentially destructive foreign meddling.
The government said the violence showed that it needed to have control of the province. Sweida has remained mostly under the control of Druse armed groups since Mr. al-Shara, the former commander of a rebel group that previously had ties to Al Qaeda during Syria’s 14-year civil war, came to power.
“The absence of state institutions, particularly military and security ones, is a primary reason for the ongoing tensions,” the interior minister, Anas Khattab, wrote on social media. “There is no solution to this except by imposing security and activating the role of institutions to ensure civil peace and the return of life to its normal state in all its details.”
The Druse are a group that practices a religion that is an offshoot of Islam.
One Druse religious group called for an end to the fighting but also urged the government to protect its members from what it called “uncontrolled gangs.”
“While we forbid and condemn aggression in all its forms, we at the same time refuse to accept the continuation of injustice or remain silent about the repeated violations that affect our people, our roads, and our dignity,” the leadership of the group said in a statement Sunday on social media.
The violence in Sweida, the heartland of the Druse community, threatens to further exacerbate religious and ethnic tensions stemming from the civil war.
In March, more than 1,600 people were killed, in large-scale sectarian clashes in Syria’s coastal provinces. Most of the victims were members of the Alawite religious minority, who were targeted for days by thousands of government-affiliated fighters.
In April, more than 100 people were killed in sectarian violence between pro-government forces and Druse fighters near Damascus, the capital.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the latest violence followed a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings between the Druse and pro-government tribal groups. In response, members of the tribal communities set up a checkpoint along a main road and detained Druse fighters.
Suwayda 24, another monitoring group, said on social media Monday that civilians were attempting to flee the area for their safety.
Christina Goldbaum and Aaron Boxerman contributed reporting.
Raja Abdulrahim reports on the Middle East and is based in Jerusalem.
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