Residents and a human rights group reported calm in the Syrian city of Sweida on Sunday after Bedouin fighters withdrew following a week of sectarian violence that left more than 1,000 dead.
The Druze-majority Sweida was “evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” Syria’s interior ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said in a post on Telegram. The US pointman for the region on Sunday called on “all factions” to “immediately lay down their arms.”
The Syrian presidency had announced a new ceasefire between the Bedouin and Druze fighters early on Saturday, but it quickly collapsed into renewed fighting.
The clashes underline the challenge interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is seen as more sympathetic to the Bedouins, faces in asserting authority over the fractured nation. He tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias, and later urged the Bedouins to leave the city.
“We thank the Bedouins for their heroic stances but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state’s orders,” Sharaa said in an address broadcast Saturday.
A spokesman for Syria’s tribal and clan council told Al-Jazeera late Saturday that fighters had left the city “in response to the call of the presidency and the terms of the agreement.”
Black smoke rises above buildings in southern Syria’s city of Sweida, as clashes continue between Bedouin tribal forces and Druze fighters on July 19, 2025 (Shadi AL-DUBAISI / AFP)
There was no sound of gunfire on Sunday morning, according to a resident speaking from the city outskirts, while a Druze source in the region said there was calm in most areas.
Kenan Azzam, a dentist, described the situation on Sunday morning as “a tense calm” but told Reuters residents were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity.
“The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said that since around midnight, “Sweida has been experiencing a cautious calm,” adding government security forces had blocked roads leading to the province to prevent tribal fighters from heading there.
The Syrian Red Crescent said Sunday that it is sending 32 trucks to Sweida loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. Syrian state media SANA said that the Health Ministry is also sending a convoy of trucks. Israel is also preparing to send medical equipment and medicine to a hospital there.
The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. A series of tit-for-tat kidnappings sparked the clashes in various towns and villages in the surrounding province, which later spread to the city. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze.
Israel launched dozens of airstrikes last week on convoys of government fighters and struck the Syrian defense ministry headquarters in central Damascus, saying it was acting in support of the Druze, who form a substantial community in Israel and are seen as a loyal minority, often serving in the Israeli military.
People sit in a bus passing in front the Syrian Defense Ministry building which on Wednesday was heavily damaged by Israeli airstrikes in Damascus, Syria, July 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
On Sunday, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria, praised US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria and called for an end to the fighting in Sweida.
“President Trump’s decision to lift sanctions was a principled step, offering the Syrian people a chance to move beyond years of unimaginable suffering and atrocities,” he wrote on X. “Yet, this fragile ambition is now overshadowed by profound shock, as brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government’s authority and disrupt any semblance of order. All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance.”
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 1,000 people had been killed in the violence. They included 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 165 of whom were summarily executed, according to the Observatory.
They also included 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were “summarily executed by Druze fighters.” Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory said.
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