Syrian government forces withdraw from Sweida amid clashes with Druze militias earlier this week (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) From ...

AS-SUWAYDA] The southern Syrian province of As-Suwayda has once again surged to the forefront of the national crisis, this time with reports of field massacres and tribal clashes between Druze and Bedouins.

As of Wednesday morning, clashes between Syrian government troops and local Druze fighters resumed just hours after a ceasefire was announced.

Sectarian violence erupted again in southern Syria as local Sunni Bedouin tribes fought armed factions for the Druze religious community. The Syrian government dispatched troops to restore order, and Israel launched airstrikes to protect the Druze.

The mainly Druze residents of the Syrian city of Sweida had hoped the arrival of government forces on Tuesday would spell an end to deadly sectarian clashes with local Bedouin tribes. On Tuesday, government forces entered Sweida with the stated aim of ending the sectarian violence that had claimed more than 100 lives earlier this week.

Members of the Druze community have faced humiliation and massacres at the hands of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa's regime, Attorney Raad Shanan, Director-General of the Druze Community Council, said in an interview with 103FM on Wednesday.

A leading Druze spiritual leader accused the Syrian leadership in Damascus of bombarding the southern city of Sweida despite having reached an agreement to quell violence, and he called on fighters to confront Syrian troops entering the city.

Syrian Kurds, who control a quarter of Syria's territory in the north and the northeast, are closely watching events unfold in Suwayda.