Heavy smoke rises as a member of Bedouin and tribal forces runs during clashes with Druze fighters in Syria’s southern city of Sweida on July 19, 2025. (OMAR HAJ KADOUR / AFP)
Sectarian violence between the Druze and the bedouins in Sweida of southern Syria killed more than 1,265 people before the implementation of a recent ceasefire, a war monitor says, offering an updated toll, as it continues to document deaths that took place prior to the truce.
The observatory provided the following breakdown on the deaths
609 people from the Sweida Governorate, including 104 civilians (including 6 children and 16 women),
440 members of the Ministry of Defense and Public Security (including 32 members of the Bedouin tribes and a Lebanese militant),
15 members of the Ministries of Defense and Interior who were killed as a result of Israeli raids,
3 people were killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes on the Ministry of Defense building,
one journalist was killed during the clashes in Sweida,
194 people (including 28 women, 8 children and an elderly man) were executed in the field by bullets from members of the Ministries of Defense and Interior,
and 3 members of the Bedouin tribes, including a woman and a child, were executed in the field by Druze militants.”
Calm returned
Calm returned to southern Syria‘s Sweida province on Sunday, a monitor and AFP correspondents reported, after a week of sectarian violence
A ceasefire announced on Saturday appeared to be holding after earlier agreements failed to end fighting between longtime rivals the Druze and the Bedouin that spiralled to draw in the Islamist-led government, the Israeli military and armed tribes from other parts of Syria.
AFP correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported hearing no clashes on Sunday morning, with government forces deployed in some locations in the province to enforce the truce.
According to a Red Crescent official, a first humanitarian aid convoy entered Sweida on Sunday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since around midnight (2100 GMT Saturday), “Sweida has been experiencing a cautious calm”, adding government security forces had blocked roads leading to the province in order to prevent tribal fighters from going there.
AFP/ Syria observatory.