The Syrian central government on Monday began evacuating hundreds of Bedouin families from the region around Sweida, the heavily Druze city where deadly violence broke out between the two groups last week.
Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa blamed the Druze for inciting the violence, while the Druze say government forces have joined the Bedouin in a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.
According to the Syrian Red Crescent, the government sent a fleet of 120 buses to evacuate roughly 1,500 Bedouin to Deraa, a province under the control of the central government and its jihadi allies.
The Druze say those Arab Muslim militias have been using Deraa as a staging ground for attacks against the non-Muslim Druze living in and around Sweida. Weapons shipments to the Muslim militias were reportedly disguised as vegetable deliveries to shield them against Israeli airstrikes.
The United Nations said on Sunday its humanitarian convoys have not been allowed to enter Sweida, but did not specify which parties are blocking the shipments. A convoy from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was allowed to enter, bringing dozens of truckloads of food to Sweida from Damascus.
Several ceasefire efforts collapsed last week in renewed fighting. Israel had intervened to protect the Druze after government forces joined the Bedouin in attacking them, so the central government evidently concluded the best way to maintain a ceasefire was to separate all of the combatants.
Central government forces were withdrawn from Sweida over the weekend in addition to the Bedouin evacuation, following a deconfliction agreement between Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Saturday that Druze forces regained control of Sweida after driving out “tribal fighters,” primarily the Bedouin.
SOHR said the death toll in Sweida was over 1,120, including 427 Druze fighters, 298 Druze civilians, 354 government security personnel, and 21 Bedouin. SOHR said 194 of the slain Druze civilians were “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel,” while three Bedouin civilians were “summarily executed by Druze fighters.”
On Saturday, Sharaa gave his second televised address since the fighting began in Sweida. He urged the Bedouin tribes to “fully commit” to the ceasefire, but he blamed the worst of the violence on “armed groups from Sweida” — in other words, the Druze — who launched “retaliatory attacks against the Bedouins and their families.”
“We thank the Bedouins for their heroic stances, but demand they fully commit to the ceasefire and comply with the state’s orders,” Sharaa said.
Sharaa, a former member of al-Qaeda who led a former al-Qaeda group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to victory against dictator Bashar Assad in December, reassured the Druze that they “constitute a fundamental pillar of the Syrian national fabric” and said Sweida “remains an integral part of the Syrian state.”
Even more than the Druze, Sharaa blamed Israel for destabilizing the region around Sweida by keeping Syrian government forces at bay, clearing a path for “outlaw” Druze militias to launch “retaliatory attacks which were accompanied by human rights violations” against Bedouin families.
“The Bedouin tribes in Syria have always been a symbol of lofty values and principles, and this motivates them to rush to the rescue of the oppressed,” he said, to explain why Bedouins descended upon Sweida and began executing Druze civilians.
Sharaa went on to chide the Bedouin for attempting to “defend themselves” instead of relying on his government.
“Only the Syrian state is capable of defending its authority and sovereignty, all over Syria,” he asserted.
The “retaliation” Sharaa repeatedly referred to was the Druze striking back after one of their number was abducted and robbed by Bedouin tribesmen last week. Sharaa and his military government do not appear to be denying this attack took place, but they blame the Druze for touching off a bloody conflict by going too far with their counterattack.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideo Sa’ar condemned Sharaa’s speed on Saturday, accusing the Syrian leader of glorifying “jihadist attackers” and blaming their victims.
“In al-Sharaa’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority — Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian. This has been proven time and again over the past six months,” Sa’ar said, alluding to a wave of attacks against members of the Alawite minority in March.
“The international community has a duty to ensure the security and rights of the minorities in Syria and to condition Syria’s renewed acceptance into the family of nations on their protection,” Sa’ar said, hinting that Sharaa had better do more to deliver the safe and pluralistic government he promised if he wants international recognition and foreign investment for Syria’s post-civil war reconstruction.
Druze living in Sweida told The National on Monday they were shocked and horrified to see government troops siding with the Bedouin to kill Druze. A surgeon in Sweida said the Interior Ministry forces who arrived last week, “supposedly to stop clashes and spread security,” turned out to be “monsters.”
Among other horrors, the doctor said “medical teams were shot dead while trying to save people.”
Another Sweida doctor said the central government “cut off the Internet to make it difficult to know and document the size of the atrocities they committed.”
“Sweida has become a disaster zone. There is nothing more I can tell you. I have survived, for now,” said Druze leader Suhail Thebian, who was formerly opposed to arming Druze militia after the fall of the Assad regime.
The Jerusalem Post on Monday accused international media and the U.N. of downplaying the violence in Sweida because it does not fit their preferred narrative template, including their tendency to blame Israel for all unrest in the Middle East.
“Sweida? It’s messy. Bedouin militias, government loyalists, and Druze fighters. No clear villain, no single victim group, no tidy arc. It’s complex, local, and tribal. That makes it harder to explain and easier to ignore,” the editors wrote, ruefully noting that Sweida did not become front-page news until Israel got involved.
“And then there are the human rights organizations — such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International — which churn out regular reports and press releases on Israel, often based on claims from partisan and biased NGOs. When it comes to Sweida — silence,” they added.
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