Despite Ceasefire in Sweida, Violence Continues — Syrian Government Calls for Peace as Israeli Intervention Escalates Tensions
[Damascus, July 20, 2025] — Despite an ongoing ceasefire in Syria’s southern Druze-majority city of Sweida, renewed sectarian violence erupted on Saturday. While the Islamist-led Syrian interim government attempts to restore calm, reports indicate ongoing gunfire and mortar shelling in and around the city.
Direct Clashes, Hundreds of Casualties
Reuters correspondents reported sounds of gunfire from within Sweida city and mortar impacts in nearby villages. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that at least 940 people have been killed since the fighting began last week, although this number could not be independently verified.
According to government sources, security forces have been deployed to maintain law and order, and all warring factions have been urged to respect the ceasefire. On Saturday night, Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced that clashes in Sweida had been halted and that Bedouin tribal elements had been removed from the area.
Israeli Interference Increases Complexity
Israeli airstrikes near the Golan Heights have further intensified the conflict. Israel claims these operations are necessary to protect its domestic Druze population. However, Syrian Interim President Ahmed Al-Shara stated, “Arab and U.S. mediation had brought temporary peace, but Israeli attacks have made the situation even more dangerous.”
Shara added, “Syria cannot be a laboratory for ethnic division.” He accused Druze militias of retaliatory violence, while Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded, “Shara is siding with the aggressors.” On the platform formerly known as Twitter (X), Sa’ar wrote, “Being a minority in Syria — whether Kurdish, Druze, Alawite, or Christian — is extremely dangerous.”
U.S. Peace Initiative
The U.S. has reportedly mediated a temporary ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel. U.S. Special Envoy Tom Barrack stated, “This conflict must ensure the security of all religious and ethnic communities and foster a new, unified Syrian identity.”
Israel has agreed to tolerate a limited Syrian military presence in Sweida for the time being but remains firm in its demand for demilitarization of the southern border region.
Humanitarian Crisis: Hospitals Overwhelmed
Dr. Omar Obeid, director of a Sweida hospital, said, “The hospital is overwhelmed with the dead and injured. Most casualties suffer from bomb and shrapnel wounds.” Locals report that several mortar shells landed in residential areas on Saturday afternoon, injuring at least 22 people.
Following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Shara-led Islamist interim administration is facing a severe political and military crisis. The deadly Druze-Bedouin conflict in southern Syria has spread into Lebanon, Jordan, and the Golan Heights region.
Government forces, in attempting to control the situation, have themselves become embroiled in the conflict, with allegations surfacing that they have targeted the Druze community — further complicating an already volatile situation.
