Syrian security forces deploy amid clashes in the southern Sweida city. AFP
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since clashes erupted on Sunday, 69 Druze fighters were killed as well as 40 civilians, 27 of whom in "summary executions... by members of the defence and interior ministries", while 165 government forces and 18 Bedouin fighters were also killed, along with 10 members of the government's security forces in Israeli strikes.
An unidentified interior ministry source said in a statement carried by state news agency SANA that "An agreement was reached for a ceasefire in Sweida and the deployment of security checkpoints in the city".
The new ceasefire was reached Wednesday in Sweida, a day after an earlier truce collapsed amid days of violence between Druze and Bedouin tribes.
An Israeli military official said on Wednesday that some troops stationed in the Gaza Strip were to be redeployed to the area of the frontier with Syria, where Israel has struck, claiming to defend the Druze minority.
The military official told reporters during a briefing that some soldiers were "preparing to be deployed on our northern border with Syria" from Gaza, where Israel has been fighting Hamas militants since the Palestinian group's October 2023 attack.
For its part, Washington is talking with both Israel and Syria after the Israelis bombed the Syrian army headquarters in Damascus, the top US diplomat said Wednesday, expressing concern at the attack.
"We're talking to both sides, all the relevant sides on this, and hopefully we can bring it to a conclusion, but we're very concerned," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
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