US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asked the Syrian government to prevent aggressive jihadists from entering the southern part of the country, which has been the scene of deadly clashes between some communities in the past week, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
The Syrian authorities must use their security forces to prevent the "Islamic State" group and other violent jihadists from entering the area and committing massacres," Rubio wrote on the social network "Ex".
Over the past three days, the US has remained strongly engaged with Israel, Jordan and the authorities in Damascus regarding the horrific and dangerous events in southern Syria. The ongoing rape and killing of innocent people must stop.
If the authorities in Damascus want to have any chance of achieving a united, inclusive, and peaceful Syria free from ISIS and Iranian control, they must help end this disaster by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other ruthless jihadists from entering the area and committing mass murder. The authorities must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone responsible for atrocities, including those within their own ranks. In addition, fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups in the area must also stop immediately, Rubio wrote.
Meanwhile, BTA reported, citing Reuters, that clashes in the Syrian city of Sweida have ended and the area has been cleared of Bedouin tribal fighters following the deployment of Syrian security forces.
The government said security forces were deployed to the southern region to try to keep the peace after nearly a week of clashes between members of the Druze community and Syrian Bedouin tribes.
A non-governmental organization and an armed group reported last night that Druze fighters had regained control of the entire city of Sweida in southern Syria, but that clashes between the communities were still ongoing in the rest of the province of the same name, Agence France-Presse reported.
Fighting was taking place despite a ceasefire declared by the Syrian authorities, who deployed forces in the province to end clashes between Druze groups on the one hand and Bedouin and tribal fighters on the other. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), 940 people have been killed in the nearly week-long clashes, AFP reports.
"Tribal fighters withdrew from Sweida last night", after a Druze counter-offensive, the SOHR reported.
A spokesman for one of the two main armed Druze factions confirmed to AFP that "there is no longer a Bedouin presence in the city". "We have committed to respecting the ceasefire, but the Bedouin are attacking us from several directions outside the city," he added.