Calm Reported in Syria's Suwayda as Tribal Fighters Said to Withdraw

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Black smoke billows in the distance on July 15, 2025 near Suwayda, Syria.

Residents reported calm in the Syrian city of Suwayda on Sunday after the Islamist-led government declared that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to fighting.

There was no sound of gunfire on Sunday morning, according to a resident speaking from the city outskirts, while a Druze source in the region said there was calm in most areas.

Kenan Azzam, a dentist, described the situation on Sunday morning as "a tense calm" but told Reuters residents were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity.

"The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded," he said by phone.

Sectarian clashes have continued until early hours of Sunday according to international reports in southern Syria despite an "immediate ceasefire" announced by the country's president.

Reuters reporters heard gunfire from inside the city of Suwayda and saw shells land in nearby villages. There were no immediate, confirmed reports of casualties.

Government forces deployed earlier this week by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa were blamed for joining in attacks on the Druze. More than 900 people are reported to have been killed in the past week. All sides are accused of atrocities.

The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, demanded an end to "the rape and slaughter of innocent people" in Syria, in a post on X on Saturday.

Rubio wrote: "If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres.

"And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks," the top US diplomat added.

Late on Saturday, Syria's interior ministry said clashes in Suwayda city had been halted and the area cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said clashes since last week around Suwayda had killed at least 940 people. 

Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said "Arab and American" mediation had helped restore calm, before the clashes escalated. He criticised Israel for airstrikes during the week.

The fighting is the latest challenge to the control of Sharaa's Islamist-dominated government, which took over after rebels toppled autocratic president Bashar al-Assad in December.

It started last week as clashes between the Druze - a religious minority native to southern Syria, the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and parts of Lebanon and Jordan - and Syrian Bedouin tribes.

Government forces then arrived to try to quell tensions, clashing with Druze gunmen and attacking the Druze community.

Earlier this week, UN human rights chief Volker Türk said his office had received credible reports indicating widespread violations and abuses during clashes, including summary executions and arbitrary killings in Suwayda.

Among the alleged perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim government, as well as local Druze and Bedouin armed elements, Türk said in a statement.

"This bloodshed and the violence must stop," he warned, adding that "those responsible must be held to account".

In his comments on Saturday morning, the Syrian leader said that his government "is committed to protecting all minorities and sects in the country and is proceeding to hold all violators accountable from any party. No-one will escape accountability."

The fighting has drawn in neighbouring Israel, which carried out airstrikes in southern Syria and on the defence ministry in Damascus this week while government forces were fighting with the Druze. Israel says it is protecting the Druze, who also form a significant minority in Israel.

But Israel and Washington differ over Syria. The U.S. supports a centralised Syria under Sharaa's government, which has pledged to rule for all citizens, while Israel says the government is dominated by jihadists and a danger to minorities.

In March, Syria's military was involved in mass killings of members of the Alawite minority, to which much of Assad's elite belonged.

In a statement on Saturday, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate ceasefire and urged an immediate end to hostilities. Sharaa said Syria would not be a "testing ground for partition, secession, or sectarian incitement".

"The Israeli intervention pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability," he said in a televised speech.

Sharaa appeared to blame Druze gunmen for the latest clashes, accusing them of revenge attacks against Bedouins.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Sharaa was siding with the perpetrators.

"In al-Shara’s Syria, it is very dangerous to be a member of a minority — Kurd, Druze, Alawite, or Christian," he posted on X.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack announced on Friday that Syria and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire.

Barrack, who is both U.S. ambassador to Turkey and Washington's Syria envoy, urged Druze, Bedouins and Sunnis, together with other minorities, to "build a new and united Syrian identity".

Israel has attacked Syrian military facilities in the seven months since Assad fell, and says it wants areas of southern Syria near its border to remain demilitarised.

On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel had agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to Suwayda for two days.





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