Nearly 1,000 Killed In Clashes In Syria’s South, With 80,000 Displaced

The death toll from a past week of spiraling violence in Syria’s Sweida province, a stronghold of the Druze minority – which also has a presence of Christians – has climbed to 940 since last weekend, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, despite a recent declared ceasefire.

Among the dead are 326 Druze fighters and 262 Druze civilians, including 182 reportedly executed on the spot by forces from Syria’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham government fighters.

The Observatory also reported the deaths of 312 government security forces and 21 Sunni Bedouins—three of whom were civilians allegedly executed by Druze fighters. Additionally, some 15 Syrian government troops were killed in Israeli airstrikes amid the intermittent intervention by Israeli warplanes.

Damascus announced a ceasefire early on Saturday, saying in a statement the truce is badly needed in order “to spare Syrian blood, preserve the unity of Syrian territory, the safety of its people.”

In a televised address, the country’s self-appointed president Ahmed al-Sharaa stated that he “received international calls to intervene in what is happening in Suwayda and restore security to the country.”

He described that Israeli military intervention has “reignited tensions” in the city of Sweida, with fighting there at “a dangerous turning point.” Interestingly he also at one point thanked the United States for its support.

Al Jazeera has observed that tens of thousands have been fleeing the fighting:

According to Syria’s Health Ministry, the death toll from fighting in the Druze-majority city is now at least 260. An estimated 80,000 people have fled the area, according to the International Organization for Migration.

“A lot of extrajudicial killings [are] being reported,” said Vall. “People are suffering, even those who have been killed or forced to flee, they don’t have electricity, they don’t have water, because most of those services have been badly affected by the fighting.”

Government forces further say they want to defeat Druze leaders who have allied themselves with a foreign power – Israel.

Israel has of late made no secret that it is backing the Druze cause, but critics see Netanyahu expansionist ‘divide and rule’ policies at work.

Heartbreaking, Father Tony Boutros, representative of the Greek Catholic Church in Sweida, Syria, makes an appeal to the international community to save Christians and Druze from an Islamist genocide.

“We Christians and Druze are one. Look at the massacre they are committing… pic.twitter.com/DiBZLMBuze

— Dr. Maalouf ‏ (@realMaalouf) July 18, 2025

HTS has just taken off the US-designated terrorism list earlier this month, after Trump had posed with its leader Sharaa (Jolani, who had earlier been a member of ISIS) while visiting Riyadh, expressing hope that he’ll make for a good post-Assad ruler. HTS fighters have lately been massacring Druze, Christians, and Alawites – waging war against non-Sunni minorities.