Khadijah Shehu Abdulkareem
A ceasefire in the Druze-majority city of Suwayda, has been reached with the city’s “notables and dignitaries” after days of deadly clashes with Bedouin tribes, the Syrian Ministry of Defence has announced.
“To all units operating within the city of Suwayda, we declare a complete ceasefire,” Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra posted on X on Tuesday.
The decision follows shortly after the ministry deployed government forces to halt the violence that killed dozens since Friday.
A curfew was also imposed on the city following escalation of the violence, which spread across the Suwayda governorate, killing at least 99 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The dead include 60 Druze, among them four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security personnel and seven unidentified people in military uniforms, the monitor said. The Defence Ministry reported 18 deaths among the armed forces.
Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Suwayda, with violence occasionally erupting.
Meanwhile, Israel launched air attacks on Suwayda on Tuesday after Syrian government forces entered the Druze city. Israel had pledged to protect Syria’s Druze minority, which it sees as potential allies.
The Druze spiritual leadership had earlier resisted any deployment of Syrian troops in the southern city, but then urged Druze fighters to lay down their arms and allow government forces in.
On Tuesday afternoon, however, Druze political leadership changed course, with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, who has been strongly opposed to the new leadership in Damascus, saying Syrian troops had breached any arrangements by continuing to fire on residents.