ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Clashes erupted again in Syria’s southern Suwayda province on Sunday after more than two weeks of a fragile ceasefire, killing at least two people, Syrian state media and a war monitor reported.
“Outlaw groups violate the ceasefire agreement in Suwayda, attack internal security forces, and shell several villages in the province's countryside,” state-run al-Ikhbariya TV reported, adding that the attacks led to “the martyrdom of one internal security member and injuries to others.”
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a member of the government’s General Security forces was killed and seven others were injured when clashes erupted with local factions around the Tal Hadid area in western Suwayda, adding that a “local fighter” was also killed.
Clashes first erupted on July 13 between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes in Suwayda. The violence quickly escalated with the involvement of Syrian government forces and Israeli airstrikes in support of the Druze before a US-brokered ceasefire was declared on July 18.
The Observatory reported that nearly 1,400 people were killed before Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa on July 19 declared a ceasefire that led to a fragile truce.
At the time, Sharaa described the conflict as being “between outlawed groups on one hand, and Bedouins on the other,” and credited “the intervention of the Syrian state” for calming the situation.
Syria’s justice ministry on Thursday formed a judicial committee to investigate the recent violence. Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais said in a video message that the body comprises “judicial and legal expertise to investigate the circumstances of the recent events and refer those involved to the judiciary.”
The committee is expected to provide periodic updates and submit a final report within three months, according to a ministerial decree. However, Sunday’s violence signals a possible reignition of the conflict.
At a United Nations Security Council session on Monday, UN Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen urged Damascus to make “major course corrections” in its political and security strategies, citing sectarian and intercommunal bloodshed in Suwayda.
He said government forces deployed to de-escalate the fighting were “attacked” by Druze groups, but also noted “extremely grave reports of serious violations by security forces against Druze civilians.”
Documented abuses included “extrajudicial executions, degrading treatment, desecration of corpses, looting, and destruction of property,” Pedersen said. He estimated that the clashes resulted in “hundreds of casualties and injuries among security forces, Druze fighters, and, most tragically, civilians,” and displaced around 175,000 people.
