After Israel allowed ‘limited entry’ to Sweida, Syria denies plan to redeploy forces in Druze-Sunni clash region

Israel has agreed to allow Syrian forces limited entry into the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days, an Israeli official said on Friday, following days of killing in and around Syria’s Druze city of Sweida.

“In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the (Syrian) internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours,” an officer who refused to be named told reporters.

Syria’s interior ministry spokesperson stated on Friday that government forces were not prepared to redeploy to Sweida Province, according to the official news agency.

Syrian army withdrew from Sweida after a truce was declared on Wednesday, but fighting resumed late Thursday between rebels from Bedouin tribes and the Druze, a religious minority in Syria with supporters in Lebanon and Israel.

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The skirmishes in Sweida province continued into Friday, according to Sweida locals and Ryan Marouf, the head of local news source Sweida24.

Damascus dispatched forces to Sweida, which is next to Israeli-controlled territory, this week in an attempt to settle some of Syria’s most serious internal violence since the interim government took power late last year.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported 254 deaths in four days of violence, including medical workers, women, and children.

Israel became involved in the conflict on Wednesday. It stated that it would not allow Syria’s Islamist-led government to send soldiers to the south, assaulted Syrian forces in Sweida and Syria’s defence ministry, and struck near the presidential palace in Damascus.

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Describing Syria’s new rulers as thinly veiled Islamists, Israel has pledged to protect the area’s Druze people, bolstered by pleas from its own Druze minority.

Israel’s military launched additional assaults in Sweida province overnight.

UN agencies’ concerns

The head of the UN human rights office urged Syria’s interim authorities to ensure accountability justice for what it said are credible reports of widespread rights violations during the fighting, including summary executions and kidnappings, the office said in a statement.

At least 13 people were unlawfully killed in one recorded incident on July 15 when affiliates of the interim authorities opened fire at a family gathering, the OHCHR said. Six men were summarily executed near their homes the same day.

The UN refugee agency on Friday urged all sides to allow humanitarian access, which it said had been curtailed by the violence.

Israel’s deep distrust of Syria’s new Islamist-led leadership appears to be at odds with the United States, which said it did not support the recent Israeli strikes on Syria.

The US intervened to help secure the earlier truce between government forces and Druze fighters, and the White House said on Thursday that it appeared to be holding.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who has worked to establish warmer ties with the US, accused Israel of trying to fracture Syria and promised to protect its Druze minority.