Israel says it has bombed Syrian government forces around Suweida, as they entered the predominantly Druze city following two days of deadly sectarian clashes.
About 100 people have reportedly been killed since the fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes erupted on Sunday.
Syria’s defence minister announced a ceasefire in Suweida on Tuesday morning, saying an agreement had been reached with local dignitaries for security forces to deploy there. However, one Druze spiritual leader urged local fighters to resist.
Later, Israel’s prime minister said he had ordered strikes on forces and weapons in the Suweida area because the government “intended to use [them] against the Druze”.
Benjamin Netanyahu said he was committed to preventing harm to the Druze in Syria because of their deep ties to those living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
This is the first time that Syrian government forces have been deployed to Suweida since Islamist-led rebels overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Minority communities are suspicious of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government despite his pledges to protect them, and until now the province of Suweida had remained largely under the control of Druze militias which resisted calls to join the security forces.
The fighting between Bedouin tribes and Druze militias in Suweida was reportedly sparked by the robbery and abduction of a Druze merchant on the highway to Damascus last Friday.
On Sunday, armed Druze fighters reportedly encircled and later seized the city’s al-Maqwas neighbourhood, which is inhabited by Bedouin.
The clashes soon spread into other parts of Suweida province, with tribesmen reportedly launching attacks on Druze towns and villages on the city’s outskirts.
As the death toll reached 30, Syria’s interior ministry announced that its forces and those of the defence ministry would intervene and impose order, saying the “dangerous escalation comes in light of the absence of relevant official institutions”.
There was a brief period of calm on Sunday night, after mediation between Bedouin and Druze leaders resulted in the release of people kidnapped by both sides, according to activist-run news outlet Suwayda 24.
But on Monday, it said the fighting had resumed in the countryside west of the city after drones attacked villages at the same time as government forces deployed in nearby areas of eastern Deraa province.
Later, Suwayda 24 reported that villages in the area were also hit by mortar fire and that dozens of dead and wounded had been brought to local hospitals.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it had struck several government tanks to prevent them advancing towards Suweida city. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said the strikes were a “clear warning to the Syrian regime”.
On Monday evening, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that 99 people had been killed, including 60 Druze, including four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security forces personnel.
The defence ministry said 18 security personnel had been killed during attacks on military points by what it called “outlaw groups”.
On Tuesday morning, the Druze spiritual leadership said they had agreed to allow government forces to enter Suweida province in order to end the bloodshed. They also called on all armed groups there to co-operate and hand over their weapons.
But hours later, influential Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri posted a video called on Druze fighters to “resis[t] this brutal campaign by all available means”, accusing government forces of bombarding Suweida city in violation of a ceasefire agreement.
As security forces entered the city, Defence Minister Maj Gen Murhaf Abu Qasra announced a “complete ceasefire”, saying an agreement had been reached with “notables and dignitaries”.
“Suweida neighbourhoods will be under the control of Internal Security Forces as soon as combing operations are completed in order to control the chaos, secure return of residents to their houses,” he added.
Early on Tuesday afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said they had directed the Israeli military to immediately attack Syrian forces and weaponry sent to the Suweida area “that the regime intended to use against the Druze”.
They accused the Syrian government of contravening “the demilitarisation policy they decided on” and of endangering Israel by deploying forces there.
“Israel is committed to preventing harm being inflicted on the Druze in Syria, owing to the deep covenant of blood with our Druze citizens in Israel and their historical and familial link to the Druze in Syria,” they added.
The Syrian Observatory shared a video that it said showed at least one member of the security forces who was killed in an Israeli strike on a convoy.
There was no immediate response from the Syrian government.
Earlier this year, Netanyahu warned that he would not “tolerate any threat” to Syria’s Druze and demanded the complete demilitarisation of Suweida and two other southern provinces,
He said Israel saw interim President Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), as a threat. HTS is a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN and UK, but no longer the US.
The Israeli military has already carried out hundreds of strikes across Syria to destroy the country’s military assets since the fall of the Assad regime.
And it has sent troops into the UN-monitored demilitarised buffer zone between the occupied Golan Heights and Syria, as well as several adjoining areas and the summit of Mount Hermon.