Ten government security personnel were wounded in clashes with local armed groups in Syria's Druze-majority province of Sweida, according to state media. The unrest, which took place on Monday, came after two civilians were killed in similar clashes west of Sweida city, according to local security sources. Syrian state television, citing the Internal Security Command in Sweida province, said the number of wounded personnel had risen to 10 after 'outlaw groups' targeted points in the Tal Hadid area and the Walgha axis. State media had previously reported that four were wounded 'while confronting attacks by outlaw groups in the western countryside of Sweida'.
Sweida city and other parts of the southern province are under the control of local armed groups and constitute the last areas outside the power of Syria's new authorities, who are seeking to extend their rule across the entire country after toppling longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in 2024. Among those groups is the so-called National Guard, which is affiliated with Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri.
In a statement on Monday night, the group accused government forces of 'firing a number of mortar shells and indiscriminately firing 23mm machine guns... with the aim of harming civilians', adding that a child was wounded as a result. The group said it was'responding to the sources of fire with appropriate means'. Government forces and Druze armed groups had been exchanging fire since Saturday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday.
A Druze security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a shell launched Sunday from a government-controlled area 'targeted the outskirts of the city of Sweida, striking a tractor and killing two people on board, the driver and a woman who was with him'. Tensions have been high in Sweida since clashes between Druze and government-aligned forces last year led to some of the worst communal violence since the fall of Assad.
