A grim toll has emerged from Syria’s Sweida province, where clashes, field executions, and Israeli airstrikes since Sunday, July 13, have claimed the lives of 597 individuals. This alarming figure was reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
The fatalities include 217 residents of Sweida, with 71 civilians among them, four of whom were children and four women. Additionally, 275 members of the Ministry of Defense and Public Security, including 18 from Bedouin tribes, were killed.
Furthermore, 15 personnel from the Ministries of Defense and Interior perished in Israeli airstrikes, alongside three individuals, a woman and two unidentified persons, killed in an Israeli air raid on the Ministry of Defense building, and one journalist who died during the Sweida clashes.
The SOHR detailed that 83 individuals, including four women and an elderly man, were summarily executed by elements from the Ministries of Defense and Interior. In a separate grim account, three Bedouin tribespeople, a woman and a child among them, were field-executed by Druze gunmen.
In a recent statement, the Syrian Observatory highlighted a growing exodus of families from Arab Bedouin tribes across various parts of Sweida province. This escalating displacement is a direct consequence of rising tensions between the local community’s constituent groups, sparking grave fears that these families may face violations or attacks.
According to information obtained by the Observatory, the displacement has encompassed numerous areas and neighborhoods where these families reside. Simultaneously, reliable sources have reported that local armed individuals from the Druze community have surrounded neighborhoods inhabited by Bedouin tribespeople.
Among the most affected areas are Al-Maqous, Sahwat al-Balata, Al-Mashourab, Al-Zaytouna, Al-Haroubi, Al-Shaqrawiya, Al-Barqasha, Al-Mansoura, Naba Ara, and Al-Mazra’a. Residents there are living in an atmosphere of intense fear and anxiety, with the escalating risk of sliding into a broader sectarian and regional conflict.
