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Calm Returns to Sweida: A Week of Sectarian Violence Finally Comes to an End

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A Syrian Red Crescent convoy carrying aid provided by Syrian]Calm returned to southern Syria’s Sweida province on Sunday, according to monitors and Agence France-Presse correspondents, following a week of sectarian violence between Druze fighters and rival groups that claimed over 1,100 lives.

A ceasefire announced on Saturday appears to be holding after previous agreements failed to end the conflict between long-standing rivals, the Druze and the Bedouin. The fighting had escalated, drawing in the Islamist-led government, Israeli military, and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.

AFP correspondents near Sweida city reported no clashes on Sunday morning, with government forces deployed across the province to enforce the truce.

The first humanitarian aid convoy entered the city on Sunday, according to Red Crescent official Omar al-Malki, who stated that more would follow.

He noted that the convoy arrived in coordination with government bodies and local Druze-controlled authorities in Sweida.

However, the Syrian government claimed that a Druze group blocked its own convoy from entering the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a cautious calm in Sweida since midnight, adding that government security forces had blocked roads leading to the province to prevent tribal fighters from entering.

Late Sunday, the Britain-based Observatory updated the death toll to 1,120 since the violence erupted a week ago, including 427 Druze fighters, 298 Druze civilians, 354 government security personnel, and 21 Sunni Bedouin.

Witnesses, Druze factions, and the Observatory have accused government forces of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses, including summary executions, upon entering Sweida days ago.

Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP, “The city hasn’t seen calm like this in a week.”

The Interior Ministry announced that Sweida city had been cleared of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods had ceased.

The Observatory reported that Druze fighters regained control of the city on Saturday evening.

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a ceasefire in Sweida on Saturday and reaffirmed a commitment to protect Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities amid the latest sectarian violence since Islamists overthrew long-time ruler Bashar Assad in December.

A spokesperson for Syria’s tribal and clan council told Al Jazeera late Saturday that fighters had left the city in response to the presidency’s call and the terms of the agreement.

A medic in Sweida told AFP by phone on Sunday, “The situation is completely calm. We aren’t hearing any clashes.” Sweida city’s 150,000 residents have been confined to their homes without electricity or water, and food supplies have dwindled.

An AFP photographer reported that the morgue at Sweida’s main hospital was full, with bodies lying on the ground outside.

The UN migration agency stated that over 128,000 people in Sweida province have been displaced by the violence.

U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack emphasized on Sunday that the country is at a critical juncture, adding that “peace and dialogue must prevail — and prevail now.”

“All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,” he wrote on X, stating that “brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government’s authority and disrupt any semblance of order.”

Sharaa’s announcement on Saturday came hours after the U.S. reported negotiating a ceasefire between Syria’s government and Israel, which had bombed government forces in both Sweida and Damascus earlier in the week.

Israel, which has its own Druze community, stated it was acting to defend the group and to enforce its demands for the complete demilitarization of southern Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday urged Syrian government security forces to prevent jihadists from entering and carrying out massacres in the south, calling on Damascus to bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities, including those within their own ranks. (AFP)

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