DAMASCUS (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Activists and local media said conflicts between armed citizens and gangs and the government security services resulted in at least 17 deaths and scores of injuries in Sweida, the southern Syrian province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, reported that fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday in two villages in the province with a majority of Druze resulted in the deaths of 10 government supporters from the “Falhout” faction and seven local fighters, bringing the total to 12, up from 10 the day before.
More than 40 individuals, including civilians, were injured, the monitor informs.
Although the province has largely been spared from the deadly conflict that has devastated the rest of the nation since 2011, there have been intermittent protests against the worsening economic situation.
Following the kidnapping of two individuals connected to local armed groups on Monday, tensions had heightened.
According to Rayan Maarouf, an activist and head of the Suwayda 24 local media station, residents had also been growing more and more irate at fighters supported by the government who carried out arbitrary arrests, haphazard roadblocks, and kidnappings for ransom.
Late on Wednesday, Maarouf told Reuters that this rebellion sprang up very fast and there had been attacks on the bases of those armed organisations, which were reinforced with heavy weaponry.
Sweida’s health directorate, which was mentioned on Thursday by both Suwayda 24 and the pro-government al-Watan newspaper reported, the ensuing fighting claimed the lives of 17 individuals.
The Syrian Observatory and Suwayda 24 reported that the local fighters discovered machines and presses for the manufacture of Captagon pills in one of the loyalist leader’s camps, alluding to an amphetamine-like stimulant that is primarily produced in Syria.
When the local fighters surrounded the pro-Damascus faction’s village headquarters, the fighting came to a stop.
Although the Syrian government has made no comments regarding the violence, al-Watan said that talks for a settlement were in progress since the fighting has subsided.
According to Suwayda 24, the men who were abducted over the weekend were eventually freed.
In Sweida, where drug smuggling is rampant, particularly across the border with Jordan, kidnappings and assassinations—mostly committed by local gangs—are frequent.
Earlier this year, Sweida experienced some unusual protests when gatherings of dozens approached the provincial capital to call for an end to cuts in gas subsidies.
The province has government offices and security personnel, while the Syrian army is stationed not too far from its borders.
