Syria’s escalating Druze-Bedouin conflict has left at least 89 people dead in Sweida, where fierce tribal clashes are prompting foreign military action and international concern. As violence rages between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes, Israel confirmed it struck multiple Syrian tanks in the troubled region on Monday.
The Israeli military’s Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee stated, “The military struck several tanks a short while ago in the area of Sami village (in the Sweida region) in southern Syria. To be continued.” The move signals growing security threats near Israel’s northern border as Syria’s internal conflict spills outward.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 46 Druze fighters, 18 Bedouin militants, 14 regime security officers, and several civilians among the dead. Damascus deployed troops to “resolve the conflict, stop the clashes, impose security, pursue those responsible,” according to the interior ministry.
Tensions between Druze and Bedouin factions have plagued the Sweida province for decades, but the latest unrest threatens to spiral. Sweida’s governor Mustapha al-Bakur urged locals to “exercise self-restraint,” while Druze spiritual leaders pleaded for national intervention.
Post-civil war power vacuums and rising Islamist rule have endangered Syria’s minority groups, particularly in regions like Sweida. Local clashes in April and May already claimed dozens of lives. Now, with Israeli involvement, the conflict risks becoming a wider regional flashpoint.
As one Syrian official bluntly warned, the fighting stems from “accumulated tensions over previous periods”—and those tensions are erupting once again.
