Description: After a week of violent and deadly clashes between the Druze and the Bedouin tribal fighters, US Ambassador to Turkey and Special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, announced a ceasefire between Israel and Syria. Reports from the local residents in the southwestern city of Suweyda indicated that the death toll has surpassed a thousand people, while more than 150 thousand have fled and were internally displaced. Healthcare and medical capacities were overwhelmed by the week – long sectarian hostilities while the local Red Crescent announced it dispatched more than 30 trucks with aid to the city which has been left with no water supply and electricity shortages. The Druze and the Bedouin instigated their conflict last week after series of kidnappings and broke several ceasefire agreements announced by both the Syrian and the US government. Israel, under the pretext of protecting the Druze minority community, launched aerial strikes on Syrian government buildings and supported the Druze in Suweyda by way of supplying logistics, arms, intelligence and aerial support. The interventions by the Syrian government were mostly focused in supporting the Bedouin, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that atrocities have been committed by both warring parties. Syrian government forces maintained the security cordon on the outskirts of Suweyda while reports indicated that Bedouin forces have left the city.
Impact: The fragile US – brokered ceasefire is under constant threat of faltering over the ever-persistent sectarian and inter-ethnic animosities still prevailing over several religious communities in Syria. The transitional government, with former terrorist ties, has attempted at consolidating power and exercising governance through repression and elevated presence of their military and law enforcement troops which precipitated the sectarian violence and the deadly clashes. Several ceasefire proposals were violated during last week’s escalated armed fighting which signals further instability if no adequate mechanisms for maintaining the peace aren’t established in regions where historically, groups from different religious and ethnic backgrounds have a negative tradition of engaging in armed confrontations. The Syrian transitional government lacks the political capacity, diplomatic experience and nation building concepts of engaging and integrating the various ethnic and religious groups with conflicting ambitions, which could hamper the international political and financial investments in the country’s reconstruction efforts. Instability remains high, as the potential for renewed armed confrontation still prevails over long-lasting reconciliation.