An uneasy calm returned to southern Syria\u2019s Sweida province on Sunday, after fighters withdrew following a week of violence estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people.<\/p>\n
Local people told news agencies the area was calm after Syria\u2019s Islamist-led government said Bedouin fighters had left the predominantly Druze city.<\/p>\n
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Sweida had been experiencing \u201ca cautious calm since the early hours of Sunday morning\u201d, but warned of \u201cthe deterioration of the humanitarian situation\u201d including a severe shortage of basic medical supplies.<\/p>\n
The SOHR reported on Sunday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in armed clashes, bombardment, extrajudicial executions and Israeli airstrikes since the violence in Sweida province began a week ago. The United Nations migration agency said the number of people displaced by the violence had risen to more than 128,000.<\/p>\n
One local resident, dentist Kenan Azzam, told Reuters on Sunday morning the situation was one of \u201ca tense calm\u201d but people were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. \u201cThe hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported there were no sounds of fighting, adding humanitarian convoys were preparing to enter the Druze-majority town.<\/p>\n
The Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian organisation announced it was sending 32 trucks to Sweida loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the health ministry was also sending a convoy of trucks.<\/p>\n
The violence was triggered by a dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze, who are a minority in wider Syria, which prompted government forces to intervene. Druze fighters resisted their entry into the province and violence escalated, turning into days of terror for local people. In response, Israel, which has vowed to protect the Druze community, launched airstrikes on Syria\u2019s defence ministry<\/a> in Damascus and dozens of military targets in the south of the country.<\/p>\n Members of Syria\u2019s Internal Security Forces stand guard at a checkpoint set up to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida on Sunday. Photograph: Karam Almasri\/Reuters<\/p>\n A ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel had been announced by the US early on Saturday to prevent further Israeli military intervention.<\/p>\n Early on Sunday, the US stepped up calls for an end to the fighting. \u201cAll factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,\u201d the US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, wrote on X. \u201cSyria stands at a critical juncture \u2013 peace and dialogue must prevail \u2013 and prevail now.\u201d<\/p>\n A few hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, issued a warning to Syria\u2019s new government, whose forces have been accused by Druze factions of committing abuses, including summary executions, when they entered Sweida earlier in the week.<\/p>\n Rubio wrote on X: \u201cIf authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of Isis [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Isis and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres. And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n Two members of the government forces posted sectarian hate speech against Druze<\/a>, according to private social media seen by the Guardian\u2019s correspondent in Beirut.<\/p>\n One posted a video of him and two other soldiers driving through Sweida laughing as he said: \u201cWe are on our way to distribute aid,\u201d while brandishing a machete to the camera. He filmed himself inside a house in Sweida ripping a picture of Druze spiritual leaders off a wall and trampling it with his boots.<\/p>\n The last week has been the worst outbreak of violence since March, when 1,500 mostly Alawite citizens were massacred<\/a> in revenge for a failed attack by supporters of the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, who came from the sect.<\/p>\n