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Syria troops quit Druze heartland after violence leaves nearly 600 dead

Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.The city of Sweida was desolate on Thursday, AFP correspondents on the ground reported, with shops looted, homes burnt and bodies in the streets.”What I saw of the city looked as if it had just emerged from a flood or a natural disaster,” Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP.Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised speech that community leaders would resume control over security in Sweida “based on the supreme national interest”, after the deployment of government troops on Tuesday fuelled the intercommunal bloodshed and prompted Israeli military intervention.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 594 people had been killed in clashes in Sweida province since Sunday.The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that “nearly 2,000 families have been displaced” by the violence across the province.Israel had hammered government troops with air strikes during their brief deployment in Sweida and also struck targets in and around the capital Damascus, including the military headquarters, warning that its attacks would intensify until the government pulled back.The Observatory reported that three people were killed in Damascus by the Israeli strikes.Syria’s state-run news agency SANA later reported the first Israeli attack on the area since government forces withdrew, with strikes on the outskirts of Sweida.The Syrian presidency meanwhile accused Druze fighters in Sweida of violating the ceasefire that led to the withdrawal of government forces.In a statement, the presidency accused “outlaw forces” of violating the agreement through “horrific violence” against civilians.The presidency also warned against “continued blatant Israeli interference in Syria’s internal affairs, which only leads to further chaos and destruction and further complicates the regional situation”.- Promise of ‘protection’ -Sharaa, whose Islamist-led interim government has had troubled relations with minority groups since it toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad in December, pledged to protect the Druze, a religious minority.”We are keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people, as they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,” said Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement was once linked to Al-Qaeda.More than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians were massacred in their heartland on the Mediterranean coast in March, with government-affiliated groups blamed for most of the killings. Government forces also battled Druze fighters in Sweida and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.Government troops had entered Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a truce, following days of deadly sectarian clashes.But witnesses said that government forces instead joined the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians.- US mediation -The Syrian president also hit out at Israel’s military intervention, saying that it would have pushed “matters to a large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate”.The United States — a close ally of Israel that has been trying to reboot its relationship with Syria — said late Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to restore calm in the area, urging “all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made”.A US State Department spokesperson said that Washington “did not support (the) recent Israeli strikes”.Foreign ministers from 11 countries in the region, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, affirmed their support for the Syrian government in a joint statement released by the United Arab Emirates’ foreign ministry on Thursday.They strongly condemned the Israeli attacks, describing them as a “blatant violation of international law and a flagrant assault on Syria’s sovereignty”, the statement said.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the ceasefire was a result of his country’s “powerful action”.Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces away from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.Dozens of Druze gathered in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday, hoping to catch a glimpse of relatives on the Syrian-held side who might try to cross the barbed-wire frontier. Qamar Abu Saleh, a 36-year-old educator, said that some people “opened the fence and entered, and people from Syria also started crossing here”.”It was like a dream, and we still can’t believe it happened.”burs-nad/rlp/tc/sco

Syria troops quit Druze heartland after violence leaves over 500 dead

Syrian troops on Thursday pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed more than 500 people, according to a war monitor.The southern province has been gripped by deadly sectarian bloodshed since Sunday, with hundreds reportedly killed in clashes pitting Druze fighters against Sunni Bedouin tribes and the army and its allies.The city of Sweida was desolate on Thursday, AFP correspondents on the ground reported, with shops looted, homes burnt and bodies in the streets.”What I saw of the city looked as if it had just emerged from a flood or a natural disaster,” Hanadi Obeid, a 39-year-old doctor, told AFP.In a televised speech, interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said community leaders would resume control over security in Sweida “based on the supreme national interest”, after the deployment of government troops on Tuesday fuelled the intercommunal bloodshed and prompted Israeli military intervention.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 594 people had been killed in clashes in Sweida province since Sunday.The UN’s humanitarian agency, OCHA, said that “nearly 2,000 families have been displaced” by the violence across the southern province.Israel had hammered government troops with air strikes during their brief deployment in Sweida and also struck targets in and around Damascus, including the military headquarters, warning that its attacks would intensify until the government pulled back.The Observatory reported that three people were killed in Damascus by the Israeli strikes.Syria’s state-run news agency SANA later reported the first Israeli attack on the area since government forces withdrew, with strikes on the outskirts of Sweida.The Syrian presidency meanwhile accused Druze fighters in Sweida of violating the ceasefire that led to the withdrawal of government forces.In a statement, the presidency accused “outlaw forces” of violating the agreement through “horrific violence” against civilians.The presidency also warned against “continued blatant Israeli interference in Syria’s internal affairs, which only leads to further chaos and destruction and further complicates the regional situation”.- Promise of ‘protection’ -Sharaa, whose Islamist-led interim government has had troubled relations with minority groups since it toppled longtime president Bashar al-Assad in December, pledged to protect the Druze.”We are keen on holding accountable those who transgressed and abused our Druze people, as they are under the protection and responsibility of the state,” said Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham movement was once linked to Al-Qaeda.More than 1,700 mostly Alawite civilians were massacred in their heartland on the Mediterranean coast in March, with government-affiliated groups blamed for most of the killings. Government forces also battled Druze fighters in Sweida and near Damascus in April and May, leaving more than 100 people dead.Government troops had entered Sweida on Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a truce, following days of deadly sectarian clashes.But witnesses said that government forces instead joined the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians.Addressing the Druze, Sharaa attempted to reassure the minority community, vowing that “protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities”.- US mediation -The Syrian president hit out at Israel’s military intervention, saying that it would have pushed “matters to a large-scale escalation, except for the effective intervention of American, Arab and Turkish mediation, which saved the region from an unknown fate”.The United States — a close ally of Israel that has been trying to reboot its relationship with Syria — said late on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached to restore calm in the area, urging “all parties to deliver on the commitments they have made”.On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Syria had agreed to withdraw its troops and that the de-escalation “seems to be continuing”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that the ceasefire was a result of his country’s “powerful action”, while Leavitt sought to claim credit for Washington.A US State Department spokesperson said that Washington “did not support (the) recent Israeli strikes”.Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces away from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.On Thursday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel of “using the Druze as an excuse” for “expanding its banditry” in Syria. Because of the violence, dozens of Druze gathered in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Thursday hoping to catch a glimpse of relatives on the Syrian-held side who might try to cross the barbed-wire frontier. Qamar Abu Saleh, a 36-year-old educator, said that some people “opened the fence and entered, and people from Syria also started crossing here”.”It was like a dream, and we still can’t believe it happened.”burs-nad/rlp/bc

Mothers of Israeli soldiers fighting on all fronts to stop Gaza war

“We mothers of soldiers haven’t slept in two years,” said Ayelet-Hashakhar Saidof, a lawyer who founded the Mothers on the Front movement in Israel.A 48-year-old mother of three, including a soldier currently serving in the army, Saidof said her movement brings together some 70,000 mothers of active-duty troops, conscripts and reservists to demand, among other things, a halt to the fighting in Gaza. Her anxiety was familiar to other mothers of soldiers interviewed by AFP who have refocused their lives on stopping a war that many Israelis increasingly feel has run its course, even as a ceasefire deal remains elusive.In addition to urging an end to the fighting in Gaza, Mothers on the Front’s foremost demand is that everyone serve in the army, as mandated by Israeli law.That request is particularly urgent today, as draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews have become a wedge issue in Israeli society, with the military facing manpower shortages in its 21-month fight against the militant group Hamas.As the war drags on, Saidof has become increasingly concerned that Israel will be confronted with long-term ramifications from the conflict. “We’re seeing 20-year-olds completely lost, broken, exhausted, coming back with psychological wounds that society doesn’t know how to treat,” she said. “They are ticking time bombs on our streets, prone to violence, to outbursts of rage.”- Mounting toll -According to the army, 23 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza over the past month, and more than 450 have died since the start of the ground offensive in October 2023.Saidof accuses the army of neglecting soldiers’ lives.Combat on the ground has largely dried up, she said, and soldiers were now being killed by improvised explosives and “operational mistakes”. “So where are they sending them? Just to be targets in a shooting range?” she asked bitterly.Over the past months, Saidof has conducted her campaign in the halls of Israel’s parliament, but also in the streets. Opening the boot of her car, she proudly displayed a stockpile of posters, placards and megaphones for protests.”Soldiers fall while the government stands,” one poster read.Her campaign does not have a political slant, she maintained.”The mothers of 2025 are strong. We’re not afraid of anyone, not the generals, not the rabbis, not the politicians,” she said defiantly.- ‘Wars without goals’ -Saidof’s group is not the only mothers’ movement calling for an end to the war. Outside the home of military chief of staff Eyal Zamir, four women gathered one morning to demand better protection for their children.”We’re here to ask him to safeguard the lives of our sons who we’ve entrusted to him,” said Rotem-Sivan Hoffman, a doctor and mother of two soldiers. “To take responsibility for military decisions and to not let politicians use our children’s lives for political purposes that put them in unnecessary danger” .Hoffman is one of the leaders of the Ima Era, or “Awakened Mother”, movement, whose motto is: “We don’t have children for wars without goals.””For many months now, we’ve felt this war should have ended,” she told AFP. “After months of fighting and progress that wasn’t translated into a diplomatic process, nothing has been done to stop the war, bring back the hostages, withdraw the army from Gaza or reach any agreements.”Beside her stood Orit Wolkin, also the mother of a soldier deployed to the front, whose anxiety was visible.”Whenever he comes back from combat, of course that’s something I look forward to eagerly, something I’m happy about, but my heart holds back from feeling full joy because I know he’ll be going back” to the front, she said.At the funeral of Yuli Faktor, a 19-year-old soldier killed in Gaza the previous day alongside two comrades, his mother stood sobbing before her son’s coffin draped in the Israeli flag. She spoke to him in Russian for the last time before his burial.”I want to hold you. I miss you. Forgive me, please. Watch over us, wherever you are.”