Syrian forces pull out of Sweida as part of truce with Druze
發佈日期: 2025-07-18 21:33
TVB News
Syrian government forces have largely pulled out of the southern province of Sweida on Thursday after days of clashes with militias linked to the Druze minority that threatened to unravel the country's post-war transition.
The conflict had drawn airstrikes against Syrian forces by Israel before a truce halted most of the fighting.
A convoy of pickup trucks and other vehicles in Syria's Swieda province, in what the government says is proof its forces are leaving the region as part of a truce.
The day before, a Syrian journalist takes cover after an Israeli strike on the Ministry of Defence building in Damascus.
Israel says its bombardment of Syria is to protect the Druze from government forces.
Despite the truce, mediated by the United States, Turkey and Arab countries, Syria said Druze militias launched revenge attacks on Sunni Bedouins, displacing the communities.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the fighting is an internal matter for Syria.
"It's absolutely essential to achieve two things," said Guterres. "One is the unity of the Syrian state in the respect of its sovereignty but with the full integration of the different communities in the state of Syria. The second thing is the need to respect the territorial integrity of Syria. It is for the Syrians to solve the Syrian problem."
At the U.N. Security Council, a war of words erupted between the representatives of Syria and Israel.
Koussay Aldahhak, the Syrian ambassador, blasted Israel's military intervention, saying his government rejects Israel's pretexts to justify its act of aggression.
He said it was merely an extension of Israel's occupation policies undermining Syria's stability. Israel hit back.
"Over the past six months, we have witnessed a return of targeted violence against Syria's most vulnerable communities," said Israel's deputy UN ambassador Jonathan Miller. "Mass killings of Alawites in northwestern Syria, entire villages and neighbourhoods wiped out. Then, brutal aggression against the Kurds in the north. This needs to stop now and those responsible must be held accountable."
The Britain-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 516 fighters and civilians were killed on both sides over four days of deadly clashes.
