Syria: activists: almost 1,000 deaths in violence in Syria

According to activists, almost 1,000 people were killed in the bloody unrest in southern Syria. The number of dead has now risen to 940, the Syrian observation center for human rights said. The organization based in Great Britain, which is based on a network of informants on site, counted at least 406 deaths in the province of Suwaida, including 80 civilians. The numbers cannot be checked, but the information from the observation center is generally reliable.

According to the report, 330 security forces from the transitional government were killed in the fights. These in turn had executed 182 people, including 26 women and six children. The observation center reported cruel conditions in the province. Despite the announcement of a ceasefire, new fights in the provincial capital of the same name Suwaida occurred on Saturday.

Also involved in the conflict

The new violence in the south of Syria broke out almost a week ago. There were fatal clashes between Drusian militias and Sunni-Muslim Bedouin tribes. Troops from the Syrian transitional government intervene. In response, Israel bombed government buildings in Damascus and convoys of the Syrian government army on the way to Suwaida.

The Drusen are a religious minority and live in Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan. After the fall of Assad rule in December 2024 and years of the civil war, the situation in ethnically and religiously diverse Syria remains fragile.