Report says Syria misjudged Israel’s response to Suwayda troop deployment
The Reuters news agency is reporting that Syria’s government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country’s south this week, encouraged by US messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralised state.
Damascus believed it had a green light from both the US and Israel to dispatch its forces south to the Druze city of Suwayda, despite months of Israeli warnings not to do so, Reuters reported, quoting several sources, including Syrian political and military officials, two diplomats, and regional security sources.
That understanding was based on public and private comments from US special envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack, as well as security talks with Israel, the sources said.
Following the Syrian deployment, Israel carried out deadly attacks on Syrian troops and Damascus on Wednesday.
What Israel and the US say is often not what they do...
Concern growing in Syria over sectarian violence
Concern is growing in the Druze-majority city of Suwayda over growing bouts of sectarian violence, after thousands have been killed since the fall of the al-Assad government in December.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Suwayda, said the new government of Ahmed al-Sharaa won recognition from the West, but longstanding divisions continue to threaten stability.
The country still has a fragmented military landscape and no cohesive army. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces control 25 percent of the territory in northeastern Syria.
In the south, Bedouin tribes have fought a battle about whether the region should integrate into the new Syria.
“The Syrian regime has been unable to take responsibility for the events that have been unfolding,” human rights activist Sadi Haroun said. “These repeated events are caused by the absence of justice and the state’s failure to fulfil its responsibilities.”
Adeeb al-Hariri, a Deraa resident, believes the international community wants to give the Syrian government “a real chance to govern”. “But we can’t hold them accountable until they have control of the entire territory of Syria,” he said.
Syria says security forces deploying to Suwayda
Syria’s Interior Ministry is saying the country’s internal security forces have begun deploying in Suwayda.
“Internal security forces have begun deploying in Suwayda province … with the aim of protecting civilians and putting an end to the chaos,” ministry spokesman Noureddine al-Baba said in a statement on Telegram.
This comes hours after the US ambassador to Turkiye said Syria and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire, drawing an uneasy truce between the neighbours after days of Israeli air raids and sectarian bloodshed in Syria’s southwestern region.
Since the announcement of a ceasefire, we’ve heard that the mood has calmed in some of the villages west of Suwayda that have been taken by Bedouin tribal fighters, as they wait for more details from the government about the ceasefire.
As for the Druze in Suwayda, there have been conflicting messages about the ceasefire. One of the community’s influential leaders, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, has welcomed the ceasefire and called on his supporters to stop fighting. But some leaders of factions said to be loyal to him have said they will continue fighting.
Meanwhile, clashes are ongoing, particularly in the western part of Suwayda, where more than 1,000 Bedouin fighters have already entered.
Bedouin and tribal fighters in Syria’s Druze heartland of Suwayda on Friday
