Damascus begins Suwayda withdrawal after days of bloodshed 

PARIS — The Syrian army began to withdraw from Suwayda city on Wednesday night local time, state media reported, following two days of clashes with local Druze forces that killed and injured hundreds and provided an opening for expanded Israeli intervention. 

The withdrawal came after “the completion of the army’s pursuit of outlaw groups,” the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said. 

The violence in Suwayda began on Sunday, with clashes and retaliatory kidnappings between Bedouin tribes and local Druze armed groups. As clashes escalated, the Damascus government on Monday moved to deploy security forces under the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense to end the fighting, enforce security and free hostages, it said. 

Far from quelling the fighting, the entrance of government forces widened the conflict, and security forces clashed with local Druze fighters in Suwayda city for nearly two days after entering the provincial capital on Tuesday morning. Dozens of civilians were killed and injured, amid reports of widespread abuses, and residents fled their homes seeking safety. 

At the same time, Israel—which since the fall of the Assad regime last December has sought to portray itself as a protector of Syria’s Druze minority—entered the fray. After striking Syrian military and security forces in southern Syria on Tuesday, Tel Aviv bombed the military headquarters and the vicinity of the Presidential Palace in Damascus on Wednesday, as part of its efforts to pressure the government to halt its operations and pull out of Suwayda. 

As fighting continued earlier in the day on Wednesday, the situation in Suwayda city was “bad, catastrophic,” a local journalist, who is Druze, told Syria Direct on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. He described “continued sniper fire and targeting of civilians, as well as mortar shelling,” making it difficult to transport the wounded to local hospitals.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), an independent monitor, has documented the killing of at least 169 people and the injury of at least 200 others since Sunday. Casualties include women, children and medical personnel, as well as Bedouin fighters, local Druze forces and state security forces, it said on Wednesday.

Ceasefire agreement?

On Wednesday afternoon local time, the Syrian Ministry of Interior announced an agreement had been reached for a “ceasefire, the deployment of security checkpoints inside Suwayda and its full integration into the Syrian state,” in a statement it published to its official social media accounts.

Shortly after, Sheikh Yousef Jerboa—one of the top Druze religious authorities in Suwayda—issued a video statement announcing the same agreement. Its provisions included “integrating Suwayda fully into the Syrian state,” activating state institutions in the province and forming a fact-finding committee to investigate violations in the province. 

Nearly immediately, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri—the most influential religious authority in the province, with whom the forces currently battling Damascus are aligned—came out in opposition. His statement called for Druze forces to “continue confronting the criminal armed terrorist gangs” until “the entirety of our province is liberated,” calling on Damascus’ forces to “lay down their weapons and surrender themselves to our heroic young men.” 

“There is no agreement, negotiation or authorization with these armed gangs that falsely call themselves a government,” the statement issued by al-Hijri’s spiritual presidency continued. “Any person or entity that deviates from this unified position and engages in unilateral communication or agreement exposes themselves to legal and social accountability, without exception or leniency,” it read, in reference to Jerboa. 

The fighting continued throughout the day, and it was not immediately clear at the time of publication whether the Syrian army’s withdrawal from Suwayda city on Wednesday night was in connection with this agreement or any other understanding. 

Since the fall of the Assad regime, al-Hijri has taken increasingly adversarial stances towards the transitional administration, bolstered by a number of local armed groups.

Before the latest violence, local Druze forces were largely divided into two main camps, as Syria Direct reported in March. Those more open to the country’s new administration included the Men of Dignity—one of Suwayda’s largest and oldest factions—alongside Ahrar Jabal al-Arab, the Sultan Pasha al-Atrash Battalion and military forces led by Laith al-Balous, son of Men of Dignity founder Sheikh Wahid al-Balous. 

Those aligned with al-Hijri and wary of President Ahmad al-Sharaa’s government included the recently formed Suwayda Military Council, alongside a range of smaller military factions. 

Some factions have realigned in light of the latest violence in Suwayda: the Men of Dignity, notably, moved to confront government forces. Meanwhile, Laith al-Balous and Ahrar Jabal al-Arab continue to support Damascus and its operations, holding al-Hijri responsible for the worsening situation in the province. 

A statement issued by the Men of Dignity in response to the reported ceasefire agreement on Wednesday solidified this shift. The faction rejected any agreement that did not include “the withdrawal of all invading forces, which have committed unprecedented atrocities” and affirmed it would “defend itself to the last fighter capable of bearing arms.” 

Violations against civilians

As Damascus’ forces approached Suwayda city on Tuesday, Tareq Abu Ammar (a pseudonym) took his family and fled to a nearby village. “Thousands of civilians like us fled yesterday,” he told Syria Direct on condition of anonymity for safety reasons. “With the amount of traffic and cars fleeing the city, my children and I spent an hour and a half driving a distance of no more than 10 kilometers.” 

The sound of gunfire was approaching the village where he was sheltering on Wednesday, a few kilometers from Suwayda city, he said. Abu Ammar accused government forces of targeting civilians and the displaced. 

Local media in Suwayda has reported field executions, looting and other abuses by government forces in Suwayda city. A number of videos circulated on social media this week showing the humiliation and abuse of Druze in Suwayda by forces participating in Damascus’ operations. 

In an official statement on Tuesday, the Syrian government acknowledged violations and “criminal and unlawful behaviors” in Suwayda and vowed to hold those involved accountable. 

On Tuesday, “there were many violations, most committed by Bedouin fighters and local groups that entered to support government forces,” an independent journalist who has been embedded with government forces since the military operation began told Syria Direct on condition of anonymity. 

Local Druze fighters, for their part, have been accused of executing civilians from Bedouin tribes and captured general security personnel during the recent fighting.

“Druze groups yesterday and the day before carried out field executions of Bedouins and individuals from Daraa [province] living in the Suwayda countryside. They also carried out field executions of members of the army and general security who were captured,” the embedded journalist said. This, in his opinion, led to “similar violations.” 

SNHR called on Damascus on Wednesday to “refrain from any excessive or indiscriminate use of weapons in populated areas” and open “independent and transparent investigations into all reported violations, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, arbitrary detention and degrading treatment.”

Additional measures were taken on Wednesday in an effort to prevent further abuses in Suwayda city, the journalist said. “Since this morning, all the Bedouin forces and those who entered to respond and support government forces have been removed, and now only army and general security forces are deployed,” he said. Checkpoints and military police were also sent in to “monitor the discipline of government forces and prevent violations.” 

The forces he personally observed were “disciplined,” and government forces worked on Wednesday to open safe corridors for civilians to leave neighborhoods where clashes were taking place. “Convoys of Druze and Bedouin civilians [left] Suwayda today, after army forces secured the road for them,” he added.

Israel ‘complicates the situation’ 

Israel’s strikes in Damascus—what Defense Minister Israel Katz described as “painful blows” in defense of Syria’s Druze—killed three people and injured at least 34 on Wednesday, according to Syria’s Ministry of Health. 

“We are working to save our Druze brothers and to eliminate the regime’s gangs,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on Wednesday, addressing the Druze community in Israel after 1,000 people crossed the border from the occupied Golan Heights into Syria. 

Tel Aviv’s warplanes have struck Damascus’ forces in both Daraa and Suwayda since Tuesday, hitting general security vehicles and killing and injuring personnel. On Wednesday too, “Israeli planes targeted cars belonging to general security while they were securing the delegation negotiating in Suwayda and killed three personnel,” the embedded journalist said. “Israel is complicating the situation.” 

In a press conference on Wednesday, United States (US) State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Washington was “calling on the Syrian government to withdraw their military [from Suwayda] in order to allow all sides to be able to de-escalate.” 

Not long after, Syrian forces began their withdrawal. 

This report was originally produced in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.