BUSRA AL-HARIR, Syria (AP) — Syria 's government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the southern city of Sweida, where deadly fighting between Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters has largely stopped as a ceasefire takes told.
Last week's clashes killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's fragile postwar transition. They also led to sectarian attacks against the Druze religious minority, followed by revenge attacks against the Sunni Muslim Bedouins. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said 128,571 people were displaced.
Neighboring Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who effectively sided with the Bedouins.
Syrian state media on Sunday said the government had coordinated with officials in Sweida to bring buses to evacuate some 1,500 Bedouins. The province's internal security chief under the Interior Ministry, Ahmad al-Dalati, told the state-run news agency that the initiative also would allow civilians displaced from Sweida to return.
Druze civilians were expected to be evacuated from other areas, but those had not taken place by Monday evening.
“We have imposed a security cordon in the vicinity of Sweida to keep it secure and to stop the fighting there," al-Dalati told SANA. ”This will preserve the path that will lead to reconciliation and stability in the province."
Talks were ongoing in Jordan for a long-term truce. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of neighboring Turkey, who has been involved in regional talks for a ceasefire in southern Syria, said 2,500 “lightly armed” government forces will be granted permission to enter Sweida city.
Concerns about the government's control
Buses filled with Bedouin families were accompanied by Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicles and ambulances. Ali al-Hawarein, a farmer, was among hundreds bussed out of Sweida to neighboring Daraa province. He called attacks by Druze fighters “unjustified,” and doubted that the government can keep control.
Syrian authorities did not give further details about the evacuation and how it ties into the broader agreement. Britain-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that as part of the agreement, Bedouin fighters would have to release Druze women they were holding captive and leave the province.
After talks for a hostage swap fell through, the Observatory and activist groups in Sweida reported hearing what they called Israeli airstrikes and helicopters over villages where some skirmishes took place between the Bedouins and Druze militias. Israel's military said it was not aware of any overnight strikes.
U.S. Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, who has been involved in negotiations, said perpetrators of hostilities on both sides must be held to account.
"What's happened is horrible. It's unthinkable," Barrack said. "They (Syrian authorities) need to be held accountable, but they also need to be given responsibility" to restore order.
Bedouin fighters wait on city's edge
Bedouin fighters withdrew from Sweida city Sunday. Alongside tribesmen from other parts of the country, they stood on the outskirts while security forces cordoned off the area. An aid convoy of 32 Red Crescent vehicles entered the city, though a government delegation with another aid convoy was turned away.
Displaced people have struggled with securing food and water in the summer heat. Bedouin families that fled into Daraa were packed into abandoned buildings. Most brought only mattresses and clothes.
“Everyone here has brought an entire family or two with them,” said Saif al-Hajj, who fled the western Sweida countryside with a family of 11 to the town of Busra al-Harir. He also brought chickens and ducks but struggled to give them water and bread. “If I'm thirsty, I can't get water to drink.”
Druze who fled the city of Sweida poured into neighboring towns and villages. In the village of Salkha, many were packed into schools and homes.
One Druze resident said there wasn't enough food to go around. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fears for her family's security, saying that a relative was kidnapped by armed men in the village of al-Ta'la while he was working in a store. She said his location is unknown.
“We don't know who took him, if it was government security or Bedouins,” she said. “But what we're hearing from others is that most of the kidnapping was done by the Bedouins.”
Some Druze question the new government
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has tried to appeal to the Druze community while criticizing the factions loyal to spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri who have been involved in the clashes. He promised to hold accountable perpetrators of targeted attacks.
Syria's Druze community had largely celebrated the downfall of the Assad family that ended decades of tyrannical rule. While they had concerns about Al-Sharaa’s de facto Islamist rule, a large number wanted to approach matters diplomatically.
Al-Hijri and his supporters have taken a more confrontational approach with al-Sharaa, contrary to most other influential Druze figures. Critics also note al-Hijri’s previous allegiance to Assad.
The latest sectarian attacks, however, including the killing of Druze civilians and desecrating photos of religious notables, have made the community more skeptical of al-Sharaa and less optimistic of peaceful coexistence.
More than half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most of the others live in Lebanon and Israel.
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Chehayeb reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Suzan Fraser in Istanbul contributed to this report.
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This version corrects the title of Ahmad al-Dalati, provincial internal security chief.
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