Armed tribes supported by Syria's Islamist-led government clashed with Druze fighters in the Sweida heartland on Friday, a day after the army withdrew under Israeli bombardment and diplomatic pressure. The renewed fighting raised questions over the authority of Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose interim government also has difficult relations with Kurdish and Alawite minorities.
The UN called for an end to the 'bloodshed' and demanded an independent investigation of the violence, which has claimed at least 638 lives since Sunday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). The UN's International Organisation for Migration said 79,339 people have been displaced since 13 July.
About 200 tribal fighters clashed with armed Druze men from the city using machine guns and shells, an AFP correspondent reported. SOHR also reported fighting and shelling on neighbourhoods in Sweida city. Tribal groups from across Syria gathered in villages around Sweida to reinforce local Bedouin, whose longstanding enmity towards Druze people erupted into violence last weekend.
Omar Obeid, a doctor at the government hospital, told AFP that the facility has received more than 400 bodies since Monday morning. 'There is no more room in the morgue, the bodies are in the street,' he said. The International Committee for the Red Cross warned that health facilities are overwhelmed, medical supplies are dwindling and power cuts are impeding the preservation of human remains in overflowing morgues.
Israel, which bombed the Syrian military in Sweida and Damascus earlier this week, said on Friday that it was sending aid to the Druze community in Sweida. The 2m shekel (nearly £440,000) package includes food parcels and medical supplies. The US ambassador to Turkey said that Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to a ceasefire negotiated by the US and backed by Ankara, but the deal has not been confirmed by either Syria or Israel.
