Two reported killed near Druze-majority Sweida in Syria

Two civilians were killed near the Druze-majority city of Sweida in southern Syria today, two local security sources tell AFP, during suspected clashes between local armed groups and government forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reports the same death toll, adding that government forces and armed groups from the Druze minority group had been exchanging fire since last night.

Tensions have been high in Sweida province since clashes between Druze and government-aligned forces last year led to some of the worst communal violence since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024.

A Druze security source tells AFP on condition of anonymity that a shell launched from a government-controlled area “targeted the outskirts of the city of Sweida, striking a tractor and killing two people on board, the driver and a woman who was with him.”

Sweida city and other parts of the surrounding Druze-majority province are run by armed groups and are the last major areas outside the grasp of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have been trying to unite the country after toppling Assad.

The Druze are an Arabic-speaking religious minority in Syria comprising around three percent of the country’s population.

The security source, requesting anonymity, also says that “intermittent clashes have been taking place between the National Guard and government forces since Saturday night,” referring to prominent Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri’s armed group.

The Syrian government does not immediately comment.