Tribal forces gather in Suwayda as clashes reignite following Damascus withdrawal
On Friday, Bedouin tribal fighters clashed with local Druze forces in Syria’s southern Suwayda province, just a day after reported revenge attacks sparked by a government withdrawal ignited a new wave of sectarian violence.
Syrian security forces pulled out of Suwayda on Wednesday evening, nearly three days after Damascus launched a security operation in the province to quell fighting between local Bedouin tribes and Druze armed groups that began on Sunday. The move came under threat of Israeli airstrikes, and as part of an agreement with a local religious leader, News.Az reports citing foreign media.
Government operations against what Damascus calls “outlaw groups” in Suwayda had sparked a fierce response by Druze fighters. Hundreds of civilians were killed, injured and displaced during days of fighting, with videos circulating on social media of field executions and the humiliation and abuse of Druze in Suwayda by government-aligned forces. Damascus acknowledged that “criminal and unlawful behaviors” took place.
The UN Human Rights Office said on Friday it had documented the unlawful killing of at least 13 people by “armed individuals affiliated with the interim authorities” on the day government forces entered Suwayda city, as well as the summary execution of six men near their homes.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), an independent monitor, has documented at least 321 deaths and 436 injuries in the province since Sunday. A doctor at the main hospital in Suwayda city told AFP on Friday that the facility had received “more than 400 bodies since Monday morning.”
In the hours after government forces began to withdraw from Suwayda on Wednesday, some local forces turned their sights on Bedouin communities in the Druze-majority province. Druze fighters aligned with influential religious leader Hikmat al-Hijri reportedly executed Bedouin civilians, displaced communities and burned homes.
Hundreds were left stranded or encircled, including Abu Ahmad (a pseudonym), a Bedouin from a mixed village a few kilometers from Suwayda city. Syria Direct spoke to him on Thursday, as he sheltered in farmland outside the village with his wife and children.
“Druze groups attacked our houses this morning. We did nothing to them,” he said. “They took vehicles, money, phones and gold from the women and told us to get out,” threatening to “slaughter the children and women if I didn’t leave quickly.”
At the time, Abu Ahmad said around 700 people were stranded in the same area. With no means of transportation, he planned to try to walk under cover of darkness to neighboring Daraa, and was in contact with tribe members there to “come get us out.”
Such accounts sparked a wave of anger among Bedouin tribes across Syria, which announced a general mobilization and began to send fighters to Suwayda. On Thursday evening, tribal forces took control of several villages in the west and north of the province, including the area where Abu Ahmad was sheltering with his family.
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