Almost 600 killed in south Syria violence, monitoring group says

A monitoring group says 594 people have been killed during the recent violence in southern Syria that took on a sectarian dimension.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) documented a significant outbreak of brutality in the killings that have gripped Suweida province since Sunday.

Three hundred members of the Druze religious minority were killed, including 146 fighters and 154 civilians, 83 of whom were “summarily executed” by government forces, the SOHR said on Thursday evening.

At least 257 government personnel and 18 Bedouin fighters were also killed, while three Bedouin civilians were summarily killed by Druze fighters, it added.

The fighting was sparked by a dispute between the Bedouin and Druze communities.

Another 15 government personnel were reportedly killed in Israeli air strikes, which Israel said it carried out to protect the Druze and make the government forces withdraw from Suweida.

It was not immediately possible to verify the SOHR’s figures.

However, security sources put the toll at 300 and another monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of at least 169 civilians.

An uneasy calm has mostly held on Thursday, with the withdrawal of government forces from the Druze-majority city of Suweida. Residents reported scenes of damage and looting, as well as bodies being found in the streets.

Convoys of fighters from Syria’s Islamist-led government began entering the city on Monday, ostensibly to restore order following the clashes between the Druze and Bedouin.

But that was followed by an escalation in the fighting and a fracturing of Syria’s Druze, whose religion is an offshoot of Shia Islam with its own unique identity and beliefs.

The Syrian government announced a ceasefire on Wednesday evening ahead of its withdrawal.

However, one prominent Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, rejected it, calling for further fighting until the “total liberation of our province from gangs”, referring to government forces.

Sheikh Hajri, whose followers led the fighting against the government’s forces, has sought to forge close relationships with Israel. Other branches of Suweida’s Druze community have sought to work closely with Syria’s new Islamist-led government.

There is also a sizeable Druze community in Israel and the occupied Golan Heights.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel intended to continue imposing its interests on Syria with force.

Israel’s intervention in the clashes was done partly to protect the Druze, Netanyahu said, but also to prevent the Syrian military from deploying in the south of the country.

“That will also be our policy going forward – we will not allow Syrian army forces to enter the region south of Damascus, and will not allow any harm to the Druze,” he added.

On Wednesday, Israeli air strikes caused severe damage to the Syrian ministry of defence in Damascus and struck the vicinity of the presidential palace – a dramatic escalation in Israel’s repeated attacks on its neighbour since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December last year.

In a televised statement on Wednesday evening, Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa called Israel’s attacks an attempt to destabilise his country.

“We find ourselves in the heart of a battle to protect the unity of our land, the dignity of our people and the resilience of our nation,” he said. “The Israeli entity, which has consistently targeted our stability and sown discord since the fall of the former regime, now seeks once again to turn our sacred land into a theatre of endless chaos.”

Addressing Syria’s Druze, he continued: “We affirm that protecting your rights and freedoms is among our top priorities. We reject any attempt – foreign or domestic – to sow division.”