DAMASCUS: Clashes between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria have killed 37 people, a war monitor said Monday, as authorities sent forces to de-escalate the situation.
The clashes are the first outbreak of deadly violence in the area since fighting between members of the Druze community and the security forces killed dozens of people in April and May.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 37 people had been killed, 27 of them Druze, including two children, and 10 of them Bedouin.
Earlier Sunday, local outlet Sweida 24 gave a preliminary toll of 10 people killed and 50 wounded across both sides.
It also reported the closure of the Damascus-Sweida highway due to the violence.
A Syrian government source, who asked to remain anonymous as they were not allowed to brief the media, told AFP that authorities were sending forces to de-escalate the situation.
Sweida Governor Mustapha Al-Bakur called on his constituents to “exercise self-restraint and respond to national calls for reform.”
Several Syrian Druze spiritual leaders have also called for calm and asked Damascus to intervene.
Syrian state-run media outlet SANA said the security forces had deployed on the administrative borders between the Daraa and Sweida provinces in light of the situation.
Due to the violence, the education ministry announced the postponement of Sweida’s official secondary school exams due on Monday to a future date.
Syria’s pre-civil war Druze population numbers around 700,000, with Sweida province home to the sect’s largest community.
Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Sweida, and violence occasionally erupts between the two.
Since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad, concerns have been raised over the rights and safety of minorities under the new Islamist authorities, who have also struggled to re-establish security more broadly.
Clashes between the new security forces and Druze fighters in April and May killed dozens of people, with local leaders and religious figures signing agreements to contain the escalation and better integrate Druze fighters into the new government.
