FLASH
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France, the EU and the UN have called for an immediate end to the violence.
Despite the Syrian government's declaration of an "immediate and complete" ceasefire, bloody clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze groups in the southern province of Suwayda continue, leading to over 900 casualties since Sunday. Damascus security forces have been deployed to the area, but the violence is not stopping.
Clashes flared up again after the Syrian army withdrew under pressure from Israeli bombing and diplomatic tensions. President Ahmed al-Sharaa, in a second public televised appearance, accused local Druze groups of retaliatory attacks on Bedouins and described the Israeli interventions as “pushing the country towards a dangerous phase.”
The US, through its ambassador in Ankara, announced that it had brokered a ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel, with the support of Turkey and Jordan. Israel had openly sided with the Druze fighters, even striking a government building in Damascus.
Meanwhile, France, the EU and the UN have called for an immediate end to the violence. One of the religious leaders of the Druze community, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, said that a ceasefire would allow for the safe exit of civilians and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
However, there are still reports of heavy fighting on the ground west of the provincial capital, where Druze fighters are facing armed Bedouin groups backed by Islamist militants from other parts of Syria. The rhetoric has become harsher - one Bedouin fighter told AFP: "We will slaughter them in their homes."
On the other hand, Sharaa has renewed his commitment to protecting ethnic and religious minorities, publicly thanking the United States for its role in stabilizing the situation. But Israel has reacted with skepticism, recalling the ongoing violence against minorities such as Alawites and Druze since the fall of Assad in December.
Sectarian violence, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, has left at least 940 dead on both sides, a tragic toll that testifies to the risk of Syria returning to the old cycle of civil wars with ethnic and religious overtones.
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