Syria clears Bedouin fighters from Suwayda city, declares halt to clashes

Syria’s government has announced that Bedouin fighters have been cleared from the city of Suwayda and that government forces have been deployed to oversee their exit from the entire governorate.

The announcement on Saturday came after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa ordered a new ceasefire between Bedouin and Druze groups, following a separate United States-brokered deal to avert further Israeli military attacks on Syria.Shortly before the government’s claim, there were reports of machinegun fire in the city of Suwayda as well as mortar shelling in nearby villages.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Nour al-Din Baba, a spokesman for the Syrian Ministry of Interior, said in a statement carried by the official Sana news agency that the fighting ended “following intensive efforts” to implement the ceasefire agreement and the deployment of government forces in the northern and western areas of Suwayda province.

He said the city of Suwayda, located in the province’s west, has now been “cleared of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighbourhoods have been brought to a halt”.