Syrian government forces withdraw from Druze city of Sweida after days of deadly clashes

Syrian government forces have withdrawn from the whole of Sweida province on Thursday after days of sectarian bloodshed in the heartland of the Druze minority, according to AFP.

The pullout came after President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised address that the “responsibility” for security in Sweida would be handed to religious elders and some local factions “based on the supreme national interest.”

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Syria announced it would be withdrawing its army from Druze-majority Sweida city on Wednesday night after agreeing to a new ceasefire that it said would bring a complete halt to its military operations there.

Government troops who had pulled out of the province told AFP that the order to withdraw came shortly before midnight (2100 GMT Wednesday) and they completed their pullout at dawn.

“The city of Sweida seems devoid of any government forces presence,” the editor in chief of the Suwayda 24 news website, Rayan Maarouf, told AFP.

According to the text of the new ceasefire agreement, published by the interior ministry, there will be a “total and immediate halt to all military operations,” as well as the formation of a committee comprising government officials and Druze spiritual leaders to supervise its implementation.

Syrian government troops were dispatched to the Sweida region earlier this week to quell fighting between Druze fighters and Bedouin armed men but ended up clashing with the Druze militias.

Israel responded by carrying out strikes on Syrian forces, including its army headquarters in Damascus, and said it would intensify its attacks if they did not withdraw from the south.

The Israeli military, which has taken control of the UN-monitored demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights and conducted hundreds of strikes on military targets in Syria, also says it will not allow any Syrian military presence on its border.

With agencies

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