Death Toll Rises to 37 in Druze-Bedouin Clashes in Syria’s Sweida
Local authorities, including Sweida’s Governor Mustapha al-Bakur, urged residents to “exercise self-restraint” and heed national calls for calm and reform. Prominent Druze spiritual leaders also called for an end to the violence and appealed to Damascus to step in.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Clashes between Bedouin tribes and local Druze fighters in the southern Syrian city of Sweida have left at least 37 people dead, including children, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as authorities scramble to de-escalate a rapidly deteriorating security situation.
The deadly fighting marks the worst violence to hit the predominantly Druze province since April and May, when clashes between Druze community members and newly installed security forces killed dozens.
The Syrian Observatory reported that among the 37 killed, 27 were Druze — including two children — while 10 were Bedouin fighters. The Observatory also noted the closure of the strategic Damascus-Sweida highway due to the escalating conflict.
Syria’s interior ministry confirmed a high casualty toll, citing “more than 30 deaths and nearly 100 injuries,” and announced that troops would be deployed, in coordination with the defense ministry, to “resolve the conflict, stop the clashes, impose security, and pursue those responsible.”
The state-run SANA news agency reported that security forces had been deployed to the administrative border between Sweida and the neighboring province of Daraa. Local authorities, including Sweida’s Governor Mustapha al-Bakur, urged residents to “exercise self-restraint” and heed national calls for calm and reform.
Prominent Druze spiritual leaders also called for an end to the violence and appealed to Damascus to step in.
The clashes, which erupted amid longstanding tensions between the Druze and Bedouin communities in the area, forced the education ministry to postpone Monday’s official secondary school exams in Sweida. The interior ministry described the violence as stemming from “accumulated tensions over previous periods” involving local armed groups and clans.
Sweida province is home to Syria’s largest Druze community, part of a pre-war population estimated at around 700,000. Although the Druze minority largely avoided involvement in the Syrian civil war, they have frequently clashed with various factions and state forces in recent years, especially following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the rise of Islamist authorities.
Earlier deadly confrontations between Druze fighters and new security forces in April and May resulted in several dozen deaths, prompting local leaders and clerics to broker temporary truces and negotiate the integration of Druze militias into the new governance structures.
The latest outbreak underscores the fragility of those efforts, raising fears of renewed sectarian and tribal violence in a region already reeling from over a decade of conflict.
