Syrian authorities have deployed troops to the town of Al-Suwayd in the south of the country, where unrest broke out late last week between the Druze community and Bedouin tribesmen.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 102 people have been killed since the morning of 13 July, including two children and two women. The dead include 61 Druze, 18 Bedouins, 16 Ministry of Defence personnel and seven unidentified individuals in military uniforms. Dozens of people, including children, were injured.
A curfew was imposed in the town. The Israel Defence Forces said that the IDF began striking military equipment of the Syrian government forces in the Al-Suweida area. Specifically, the press release said, the strikes targeted tanks, APCs and multiple rocket launchers, as well as access roads, in order to disrupt the arrival of convoys in the city.
“The IDF continues to monitor developments, remaining prepared for various scenarios,” the Israeli army said in a statement.
Syria’s defence ministry announced a ceasefire in al-Suweida. The ministry’s head, Murhaf Abu Qasra, said an agreement had been reached with “prominent figures and senior officials” in the city.
In 2010, before the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, the Druze community reached about 700,000 people, about 3 per cent of the population. Nearly half of them lived in the province of Essaouida. There, the Druze made up about 90 per cent of the population, along with a prominent Christian minority. The Druze community supported Israel. In December 2024, after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Druze asked Israel to annex six of their villages.