Dozens Killed in Fresh Bout of Sectarian Violence in Syria’s Sweida, Govt Says

Clashes erupted on July 13 between armed local residents and Bedouin tribesmen in Sweida’s Al-Muqawas district, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A masked fighter walks with a machine gun in Damascus's covered market on March 29, 2025. LOUAI BESHARA/AFP via Getty Images

At least 30 people have been killed—and scores injured—in a fresh outbreak of sectarian violence in Sweida, a predominantly Druze region of southern Syria, the country’s interior ministry has said.

In a statement, the ministry attributed the clashes to the “absence of relevant official institutions, leading to worsening chaos, a collapse of the security situation, and the local community’s inability to contain the crisis.”