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Syrian tribes allied to the country’s Islamist-led government announced late on July 17 a general mobilization against Druze fighters in the southern governorate of al-Suwayda.
The announcement came just hours after the withdrawal of all government forces from al-Suwayda, where a fierce battle took place over the past four days, with Israel launching strikes in support of the Druze. The intervention dealt a blow for the government, which was blamed for a wide range of war crimes targeting Druze civilians in al-Suwayda, including a series of summary executions.
Israel had vowed to protect the Druze following the fall of the regime of former President Bashar Al-Assad last December, citing historic relations with its own Druze community.
With the withdrawal of government forces, Sunni Bedouin locals in al-Suwayda began to leave the governorate fearing revenge by Druze fighters.
Druze leadership issued a statement assuring the displaced Bedouins that they could safely return to al-Suwayda. Still, state media amplified the issue, going as far as claiming that Druze fighters were massacring all Bedouins in the governorate.
Responding, tribes across Syria announced a general mobilization to “liberate” al-Suwayda. Convoys with thousands of tribesmen poured into the governorate.
The Syrian presidency accused Druze fighters in al-Suwayda of violating the ceasefire that led to the withdrawal of government forces from the governorate, further inflaming the situation.
In a statement, the presidency accuses “outlaw forces” — the term the government uses to refer to Druze factions in al-Suwayda — of violating the agreement by engaging in “horrific violence” against civilians including “crimes that completely contravene the obligations of mediation, directly threaten civil peace, and push towards chaos and security collapse.”
The presidency also warned against “continued blatant Israeli interference in Syria’s internal affairs, which only leads to further chaos and destruction and further complicates the regional situation.”
By early July 18, it was reported that tribal forces had reached the western and northern outskirts of al-Suwayda. Several Israeli strikes hit the forces, but failed to stop them. More war crimes were reported, including summary executions. Still, al-Suwayda city is reported to be still under the control of Druze fighters.
Later in the morning it was reported that the government was preparing to deploy security forces to al-Suwayda city to separate the two sides.
This was denied by a spokesman for the Interior Ministry. However, Hebrew media reported, citing an Israeli official, that Israel will allow the “limited entry of [Syrian] internal security forces” to the Sweida area for the next 48 hours, “in light of the ongoing instability” there.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, around 600 people have been killed since the start of the battle in al-Suwayda on July 13. The London-based monitoring group has so far documented the execution of 83 Druze civilians. The real toll is expected to be much higher, as activists in al-Suwayda are still reporting the discovery of bodies and government-linked sources are talking about more than 500 slain troops.
Overall, the situation appears to be about to explode. There is a real risk of major massacre against the Druze in al-Suwayda. Israel appears to be backtracking again from its promise to protect the group. The intervention of the government could prevent a massacre, but will not likely stop the killings or other violations.
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many different tribes enjoyed my anuz until i became obese senile
its a matter of time and only the time will take you by surprise and when darkness fill your eyes your ears and your mouth you would never be able to speak a word of trash only be able to feel the overwhelming fear like in a sleep paralysis. just keep talking more more i know it’s your only way to pour your anger. hope you get cancer in every part of your body and i hope you stay alive so you can enjoy your torment.
you’re a sick soul, tormented by ugly sentiments of evil
mostly peacefull génocide…. nothing to see here.
these idiots are retarded beyond belief, they spent years helping the israelis to destroy syria and have not fired one shot at the zionist thugs.
that’s because it was never about that, they’re pointlessly bloodthirsty, they’ll take the low hanging fruit because they’re satanic murderers.
now you realize there’s no greater purpose to islamic violence, it exists for its own sake.
well you could have a point,maybe it was assad senior who kept these savages in their cage for all those years.
us tax dollars at work. god bless america! keeping the world safe for democracy. 🤮
more like keeping it safe from democracy.
the chaos in syria might not benefit israel as much as it thinks. a chaotic neighborhood is not safe for a country, they are only creating more possibilities to be ambushed and more enemies to watch, and already can’t handle gaza
look at all those nice guys there….
islamists are the pointlessly bloodthirsty dross of humanity.
an un-disciplined, un-organised, un-coordinated, poorly-controled, poorly structured trigger happy mob who think they are all playing call of duty modern warfare ground war come invasion.
these venomous snakes are most useful tool for i̇srael and west
arabs here got enough of this evil narcissistic arrogant piece of shit druz society not mentioning their allegiance is for israel not syria so yeah they have the same character traits as the jews has cowards and only brave on those unarmed, unable to fight against an enemy without their aerial support and not mentioning lighting the fire and complaining about the smoke. if they love isreal that much then they should be deported to israel and the arabs will grant them their wish.
that laughter you hear is the israelis who’s sky-god seems to work better for them than the one that the arabs and muslims pray to five times a day
chaos as expected…