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US Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy for Syria, Tom Barrack, announced early on Saturday that Syria and Israel had agreed to a ceasefire.
It comes after Israeli forces carried out several attacks against Syria, including in the capital, Damascus, in what it called “military interventions” to protect the Druze minority.
It also comes on the heels of renewed clashes between Druze armed groups and Bedouin clans, in what Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa warned he’ll send troops back in to quell the fighting that has so far displaced tens of thousands of people.
Barrack announced the truce in a post on X, formerly Twitter, noting that the US-led peace initiative is supported by multiple countries in the region.
“Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa supported by the USA, [State Secretary Marco] Rubio have agreed to a ceasefire embraced by Türkiye, Jordan and its neighbours,” wrote Barrack.
Though he did no disclose any details of the arrangement, Barrack called on all parties to disengage and seek peace.
“We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbours.”
Clashes began on Sunday between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes in Syria’s southern Sweida province. Government forces intervened, nominally to restore order, but ended up taking the Bedouins’ side against the Druze.
Israel intervened in defence of the Druze, launching dozens of airstrikes on convoys of government fighters and even striking the Syrian Defence Ministry headquarters in central Damascus.
The Druze form a substantial community in Israel, where they are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the Israeli military.
The week-long fighting has killed hundreds of people. Some locals speaking to media outlets say Syrian government-affiliated fighters executed Druze civilians, looted their homes and burned them down in the wake of the clashes.
On Wednesday, al-Sharaa’s government reached a truce with Druze groups, mediate by Washington, Turkey and other Arab countries, and began withdrawing their troops from the Sweida province.
Druze groups were tasked, according to the details of the deal revealed by the Syrian interim president on Thursday, to oversee internal security as government forces pulled out.
By late Thursday however, clashes were flaring up again between Bedouin and Druze groups. State media reported that Druze militias had carried out revenge attacks against Bedouin communities, leading to a new wave of displacements.
The governor of the neighbouring Daraa province said in a statement that more than 1,000 families were displaced to his province as a result of “attacks on Bedouin tribes by outlaw groups”.
Al-Sharaa said special forces will be deployed to Sweida to “break up clashes and resolve the conflict on the ground”.
The UN estimated that some 80,000 people were displaced since clashes erupted on Sunday. It also added that essential services, including water and electricity had collapsed in Sweida, as well as major disruptions to telecom and health facilities.
Additional sources • AP