Syrian forces withdraw from Sweida after ceasefire goes into effect

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syrian forces largely withdrew from the southern province of Sweida on Thursday following days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority.

While the truce between Druze armed groups and government forces appeared to be largely holding, state media reported that Druze militants had launched revenge attacks on communities of Sunni Bedouins, leading to a wave of displacement.

Bedouin clans had fought alongside government forces against the Druze groups.

Druze leaders and Syrian government officials reached a ceasefire deal mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries.

Under the ceasefire agreement reached Wednesday, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in an address broadcast early Thursday.

The fighting had threatened to unravel Syria's postwar political transition and brought further military intervention by neighboring Israel, which on Wednesday struck the Syrian Defense Ministry headquarters, in central Damascus. Israel said it was acting to protect the Druze religious minority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Thursday to keep southern Syria demilitarized and to protect the Druze community, which has a sizeable population in Israel.

“This will also be the continuation of our policy,” said Netanyahu, who said the ceasefire was reached because of Israel's intense strikes on government forces during the clashes. “We will not allow military forces to descend south of Damascus, we will not allow the Druze to be harmed in Jebel Druze.”

Convoys of government forces started withdrawing overnight as Syrian state media said the withdrawal was in line with the ceasefire agreement and the military operation against the Druze factions had ended.

It remained unclear if the ceasefire would hold after the agreement was announced by Syria's Interior Ministry and in a video message by a Druze religious leader. A previous agreement Tuesday quickly broke down after being dismissed by prominent Druze cleric Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri.

Looting homes and killing civilians

A Turkish official said Thursday that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and intelligence chief İbrahim Kalin held a series of diplomatic and security contacts to de-escalate the clashes. They worked with the U.S. special envoy for Syria, Israel, and regional officials and leaders, including Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, said the official who requested anonymity to discuss the issue.

The escalation in Syria began with tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions in the southern province of Sweida. Government forces that intervened to restore order clashed with the Druze militias, but also in some cases attacked civilians.

Video circulated on social media showed government forces and allies humiliating Druze clerics and residents, looting homes and killing civilians hiding inside their houses. Syrian Druze from Sweida told The Associated Press that several family members who were unarmed had been attacked or killed.

“We are committed to holding accountable those who wronged our Druze brethren," Al-Sharaa said, describing the Druze as an ”integral part of this nation’s fabric" who are under the protection of state law and justice.

‘Militant sectarianism’

The Druze community had been divided over how to approach al-Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule over Syria after largely celebrating the downfall of Bashar Assad and his family's decades-long dictatorial rule. They feared persecution after several attacks from the Islamic State militant group and al-Qaeda-affiliates the Nusra Front during Syria's 14-year civil war.

Issam al-Reis, a senior military adviser with Etana, a Syrian research group, said the lack of “effective state-led negotiations” could sow further divisions between the Druze community with the Sunni Beduins who largely were able to coexist.

“This is leading to militant sectarianism which is dangerous," he said, adding it's a sign that the government needs to speed up its integration of other sects into the Syrian army, that could make it a more unifying force and could help resolve sectarian tensions.

“There have been agreements and talks about this with different communities, but until now none of this has been implemented,” he said.

The Druze religious sect began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.

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Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser from Ankara, Turkey contributed to this report.