Fresh clashes break out in Syria as the interim government struggles to
ease tensions
[August 04, 2025]
By KAREEM CHEHAYEB
BEIRUT (AP) — New outbreaks of violence overnight into Sunday rocked
Syria at two distinct flashpoints, straining a fragile ceasefire and
calling into question the ability of the transitional government to
exert its authority across the whole country.
In the north, government-affiliated fighters confronted Kurdish-led
forces who control much of the region, while in the southern province of
Sweida, they clashed with Druze armed groups.
The outbreaks come at a time when Syria's interim authorities are trying
to maintain a tense ceasefire in Sweida province after clashes with
Druze factions last month, and to implement an agreement with the
U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that would reintegrate
large swaths of northeastern Syria with the rest of the country.
The Syrian government under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been
struggling to consolidate control since he led a surprise insurgency
that ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, ending the Assad
family's decades-long autocratic rule. Political opponents and ethnic
and religious minorities have been suspicious of Sharaa's de facto
Islamist rule and cooperation with affiliated fighters that come from
militant groups.
State state television said clashes between government forces and
militias belonging to the Druze religious minority rocked the southern
province of Sweida on Saturday after Druze factions attacked Syrian
security forces, killing at least one member. The state-run Alikhbaria
channel cited an anonymous security official who said the ceasefire has
been broken. The Defense Ministry has not issued any formal statement.
Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war
monitor, said in addition to the member of the security forces killed,
one Druze was killed and at least nine others were wounded in the
clashes that took place in the in the western part of Sweida province.
The Observatory said the clashes took place at the strategic Tal al-Hadeed
heights that overlook Daraa province next door.
Difficult conditions in Sweida
State media says that aid convoys continue to enter Sweida city as a
part of a tense truce after over a week of violent clashes in July
between Druze militias and armed Bedouin clans backed by government
forces. However, humanitarian conditions remain dire, and residents of
Sweida have called for the road into the city to be fully opened, saying
the aid that has come in is not enough.
The clashes that displaced tens of thousands of people came after months
of tensions between Damascus and Sweida. The fighting led to a series of
targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze minority, who are now
skeptical of peaceful coexistence. Druze militias retaliated against
Bedouin communities who largely lived in western areas of Sweida
province, displacing many to neighboring Daraa.
[to top of second column]
|
Elsewhere, in the northern Aleppo province, government-affiliated
fighters clashed with the SDF. The Defense Ministry said three
civilians and four soldiers were wounded after the SDF launched a
barrage of rockets near the city of Manbij “in an irresponsible way
and for unknown reasons."
SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami on the other hand said the group was
responding to shelling by “undisciplined factions” within government
forces on Deir Haffar, an eastern city in the same province.
The eastern part of Aleppo province straddles areas controlled by
the government and by the SDF. Though the two are slowly trying to
implement a ceasefire and agreement that would integrate the areas
under Damascus, tensions remain.
“The Ministry of Defense’s attempts to distort facts and mislead
public opinion do not contribute to security or stability,” Shami
said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Israeli forces carry out raids bordering annexed Golan Heights
In Quneitra province, in the south, the Israeli military announced
it conducted another ground operation in the area that borders the
Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. It said its troops questioned several
suspects they accuse of involvement in weapons trafficking in the
village of Hader, and raided four areas where they found weapons
being trafficked.
Since Assad's ouster, Israel has conducted numerous strikes and
military operations in southern Syria, saying its forces are taking
out militant groups that they suspect could harm Israelis and
residents in the Golan Heights.
Damascus has been critical of Israel's military activity, and the
two sides have been trying to reach a security arrangement through
U.S.-mediated talks. Syria has repeatedly said it does not intend to
take military action against Israel.
Those talks intensified after Israel backed the Druze in Sweida
during the earlier clashes. Israel struck military personnel near
the southern city and most notably launched an airstrike targeting
the Defense Ministry headquarters in the heart of Damascus.
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved
 |
