Clashes in Syria leave dozens dead and injured, ministry says

More than 30 people were killed and 100 injured in armed clashes in the Druze-majority Syrian city of Sweida, the Syrian Interior Ministry said Monday morning (14), in the latest episode of sectarian clashes (conflicts motivated by religious, ethnic or ideological differences).

The violence began after a wave of kidnappings, including that of a Druze merchant on Friday (11), on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida, according to witnesses.

This is the first time that conflicts of this kind have occurred within the city of Sweida, the capital of the Druze-majority province.

In April, clashes between Sunni fighters and armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, spread to another district near the provincial capital.

"This cycle of violence has exploded in a frightening way, and if it doesn't end, we are heading for a bloodbath," said Rayan Marouf, a Sweida-based Druze researcher and administrator of the website Suwayda24.

Clashes involving Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze militias were concentrated in the Maqwas neighborhood, east of Sweida, inhabited by Bedouin tribes, which was besieged by armed Druze groups and subsequently captured.

The Syrian Interior Ministry said its forces will launch a direct intervention in Sweida to resolve the conflict, calling on local parties in the Druze city to cooperate with security forces.

Armed men from Bedouin tribes also launched attacks on Druze villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city, residents said.

A medical source told Reuters that at least 15 bodies were taken to the morgue at Sweida State Hospital. About 50 people were injured, some of whom were transported to the city of Deraa for medical treatment.

The violence marked the latest episode of sectarian bloodshed in Syria , where fears among minority groups have grown since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.

These concerns intensified after the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad supporters.

It was the biggest sectarian conflict in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended last December with Assad's flight to Russia after his government was toppled by rebel forces.