US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took to X on late Saturday night, calling upon the Syrian government to end the fighting in Suwayda. “If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of ISIS and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity.”
The Council of Syrian Tribes and Clans announced the withdrawal of all Bedouin fighters from the city of Suwayda on Saturday, after the country’s interior ministry announced the violent clashes had ceased. “We affirm that any violation of the agreement will be met with a harsh response,” said a statement by the council’s head, Abdul-Moneim al-Nassif.
Despite Al-Sharaa’s speech and the deployment of Syrian Internal Security forces to the Suwayda countryside, clashes had been ongoing inside the city between Bedouin tribal forces and Druze militias for the past week.
Rubio wrote that the Syrian forces “must help end this calamity” and that “they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities, including those in their own ranks.”
He also demanded that the clashes between Druze and Bedouin groups inside the perimeter “stop immediately.”
A security source told Qatari Al-Araby TV on Saturday that security forces will only be deployed inside the city once conditions on the ground allow it, adding that in the meantime security forces are deployed in most areas of the northwestern countryside of As-Suwayda Governorate.
The source also said that under the ceasefire agreement, the state will not bear responsibility for any violations committed outside its area of deployment.
