South Syria death toll reaches 940, including more than 180 executed Druze, says monitor

By AFP 19 July 2025, 3:45 pm

Edit

Bedouin tribal gunmen in a neighborhood in Sweida in Syria's southern province, despite an announcement by the Syrian interim president of an immediate ceasefire on July 19, 2025. (Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)

The death toll from violence in Sweida province, heartland of Syria’s Druze minority, has risen to 940 since last weekend, a war monitor says, despite the announcement of a ceasefire.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the dead include 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, 182 of whom were “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel.”

They also include 312 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, three of them civilians who were “summarily executed by Druze fighters.” Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, the Observatory says.