Syria: At least 17 dead after clash between pro-Assad gangs and Druze in Sweida

’Uprising’ by the city’s Druze residents escalated over militia kidnapping a young man

The Druze community has come under attack by pro-Assad fighters in Syria (Reuters)

At least 17 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a clash between residents and pro-government gangs in the city of Sweida in southern Syria.

The fighting erupted on Tuesday in the city – also known as al-Suwayda – situated close to the Jordanian border, which is largely inhabited by members of the Druze ethnoreligious minority.

The city and its province have largely avoided being caught up in the devastating civil war that started in 2011.

But the Druze community have held protests – the latest ones staged earlier this year – over Bashar al-Assad’s government cutting subsidies for their essentials such as bread and household gas.

Amid the ongoing tensions, government-backed fighters have reportedly detained people arbitrarily, blocked main roads, and kidnapped people for ransom.

Activist Rayan Maarouf, who is also the head of the Suwayda24 local media outlet, said armed residents – who are opposed to the Assad regime – retaliated after the gang detained a number of people over recent days.

A scene in the streets of Sweida amid economic protests in 2020 (Syrian News Agency (SANA))

It is reported that nine people were kidnapped from the city Shahba, in the Sweida province, and most of them were released on Sunday. But a young man called Gad Al-Taweel had not been freed.

Mr Maarouf said the Sweida residents set up their own roadblocks, detained some of the pro-government fighters led by enforcer Raji Falhout, and besieged the gang’s bases.

Falhout vetoed the decision to release Mr Al-Taweel and went on to kidnap three students from Shahba, according to Suwayda24.

Mr Maarouf told Reuters on Wednesday: “This uprising flared up very suddenly and there were attacks on the bases of these armed groups, which are reinforced with heavy weapons.”

Mr Al-Taweel has since been released, the media outlet reported. It has not been reported if the other three people were also released.

Falhout has been on the run since Tuesday, and he has become so unpopular in the city that even pro-regime Druze elders have supported efforts to expel his group, according to a report in the UAE newspaper The National.

The fighting left 17 people dead according to the city’s health directorate, which was cited by both Suwayda24 and the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper on Thursday.

It is not been publicised how many of the fatalities were of pro-Assad fighters or Sweida residents.

Assad’s government has not commented on the violence, but Al-Watan reported that the fighting had quietened and negotiations over a settlement were underway.