Tense Calm in As-Suwayda as Syria Calls a Ceasefire After Days of Bloodshed
After a weekend of chaos, Syria has hit the brakes, at least for now. On Tuesday, the Syrian military announced a full ceasefire in As-Suwayda, where a violent showdown between Druze fighters, Bedouin tribes, and government forces had left nearly 100 people dead and hundreds more injured.
It all started with a robbery. A Druze man was reportedly assaulted at a rogue Bedouin checkpoint near Al-Masmiyah. What followed was an avalanche of tit-for-tat kidnappings, gunfights, and street battles that pulled in local militias and government troops. In just a few days, the city was a war zone.
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“We have ordered a complete ceasefire for all units operating within As-Suwayda,” said Syrian defense chief Murhaf Abu Qasra, who added that security forces would only respond to direct gunfire moving forward.
The Syrian army is already pulling out tanks and handing over city control to internal security forces. But that doesn’t mean it’s over. The situation is still volatile, especially after influential Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri publicly accused the interim government of forcing him to support their presence. “Resist this brutal campaign by all available means,” he urged in a video message.
Meanwhile, Israel isn’t staying quiet. Its military bombed Syrian army tanks near in what Defense Minister Israel Katz described as a warning. “We will not allow harm to the Druze in Syria,” he said.
The United Nations is calling for calm, but the message is clear: this isn’t just a local dispute. As-Suwayda has become the latest flashpoint in a region already on edge, and whether the ceasefire holds is still a very open question.
