Syria’s Defense Minister Calls for Ceasefire Amid Deadly Sectarian Clashes

Syria’s defense minister announced a ceasefire shortly after government forces entered a key city in southern Sweida province on Tuesday, a day after sectarian clashes killed dozens there. Neighboring Israel again launched strikes on Syrian military forces, claiming it was protecting the Druze minority.

The latest escalation under Syria’s new leadership began with retaliatory kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province, a stronghold of the Druze community.

Syrian government forces, deployed to restore order on Monday, also clashed with Druze armed groups.

On Tuesday, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra announced an agreement with the city’s “notables and dignitaries.” He stated that government forces would “only respond to sources of fire and engage outlaw groups if targeted.” However, sporadic clashes persisted after his announcement, accompanied by allegations of security forces committing abuses against civilians.

Syria’s Interior Ministry reported over 30 fatalities on Monday but has not updated the count since. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported Tuesday that the death toll had risen to 166 since Sunday, including five women and two children.

The Observatory reported that 21 people were killed in “field executions” by government forces, including 12 men in a Sweida city rest house. The report did not specify the number of civilian casualties and cited instances of security forces looting and burning homes.

Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa issued a statement directing authorities to “take immediate legal action against anyone proven to have committed transgressions or abuses, regardless of rank or position.” Associated Press journalists in Sweida province observed government forces at checkpoints searching vehicles and confiscating suspected stolen goods from both civilians and soldiers.

Israeli airstrikes targeted government forces’ convoys heading into Sweida’s provincial capital and other areas of southern Syria.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that the strikes aimed to “prevent the Syrian regime from harming” the Druze religious minority and “ensure disarmament in areas adjacent to our borders with Syria.” In Israel, the Druze are considered a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces.

Meanwhile, Israeli Cabinet member and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli called for al-Sharaa’s immediate elimination on social media. Manhal Yasser Al-Gor, an Interior Ministry forces member, was being treated for shrapnel wounds at a local hospital after an Israeli strike hit his convoy.

“We were entering Sweida to secure civilians and prevent looting. I was in an armored personnel carrier when the Israeli drone struck us,” he recounted, adding that there were “numerous casualties.” The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the Israeli strikes, stating they had killed “several innocent civilians” and soldiers, calling them “a reprehensible example of ongoing aggression and external interference in Syria’s internal affairs.”

The ministry affirmed Syria’s commitment to protecting the Druze, describing them as “an integral part of the national identity and united Syrian social fabric.” Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria’s new leadership since al-Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist insurgents ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, citing concerns about militants near its borders. Israeli forces have seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the Golan Heights border and conducted hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria.

Earlier Tuesday, Syrian Druze community religious leaders called for armed factions clashing with government forces to surrender their weapons and cooperate with authorities. However, one prominent Druze spiritual leader later retracted this call in a video statement.

Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, an opponent of the Damascus government, stated in the video that the initial statement from Druze leaders had been issued after an agreement with Damascus authorities. He claimed, “They broke their promise and continued indiscriminate shelling of unarmed civilians.” Al-Hijri alleged, “We are facing a total war of annihilation,” without providing evidence.

Social media videos depicted armed fighters with Druze captives, showing them being beaten and, in some cases, having their mustaches forcibly shaved.

The Druze religious sect emerged as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. Over half of the approximately 1 million Druze worldwide reside in Syria, with most others living in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.

Since Assad’s fall, multiple clashes have occurred between forces loyal to the new Syrian government and Druze fighters.

The recent fighting has intensified fears of escalating sectarian violence. In March, an ambush on government forces by Assad loyalists in another part of Syria triggered days of sectarian and retaliatory attacks, resulting in hundreds of civilian deaths, mostly from Assad’s minority Alawite sect. A commission was formed to investigate these attacks, but no findings have been made public.

The videos and reports of soldiers’ violations sparked outrage and protests among Druze communities in neighboring Lebanon, northern Israel, and the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. The Israeli military reported that dozens of protesters had crossed the border into Syrian territory.

The violence has drawn international concern. U.S. envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, described the situation as “worrisome on all sides” in a recent social media post.

“We are working towards a peaceful, inclusive resolution for the Druze, Bedouin tribes, the Syrian government, and Israeli forces,” he stated. (AP)