Report: Druze regain control of Sweida city after Syria announces ceasefire

By AFP 19 July 2025, 11:49 pm

3 Edit

Bodies lie on the ground as Bedouin and tribal fighters drive along a street amid a cloud of smoke in the northern part of the city of Sweida in southern Syria's Druze majority province on July 19, 2025. (Bakr ALkasem / AFP)

Druze fighters have pushed out rival armed factions from Syria’s southern city of Sweida, a monitor says, after the government ordered a ceasefire following a US-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military intervention.

Fighting nonetheless persists in other parts of Sweida province, even as the Druze regained control of their city following days of fierce battle with armed Bedouin supported by tribal gunmen from other parts of Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says that “tribal fighters withdrew from Sweida city on Saturday evening” after Druze fighters launched a large-scale attack.

Bassem Fakhr, spokesman for the Men of Dignity, one of the two largest Druze armed groups, tells AFP there is “no Bedouin presence in the city.”