Death toll in clashes between Bedouin, Druze in southern Syrian city rises to 18

By AFP 13 July 2025, 9:33 pm

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A Druze militiaman holds a small rocket launcher during a shooting practice in the southern province of Sweida, Syria, March 4, 2025. (Omar Sanadiki/AP)

Clashes between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druze city of Sweida in southern Syria have killed 18 people, a war monitor reports, as authorities send forces to de-escalate the situation.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 18 people had been killed, 14 of them Druze, including a child, and four of them Bedouin.

Local outlet Sweida 24 gave a preliminary toll of 10 people killed and 50 wounded across both sides. The outlet also reported the closure of the Damascus-Sweida highway due to the violence.

A Syrian government source, who asked to remain anonymous, as they were not allowed to brief the media, tells AFP that authorities are sending forces to de-escalate the situation.

Sweida Governor Mustapha al-Bakur calls on his constituents to “exercise self-restraint and respond to national calls for reform.”

Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Sweida, with violence occasionally erupting between the two.