Qatar has expressed deep concern over deadly clashes in Syria’s Suwayda province, urging accountability and dialogue, as fighting resumes and Israel launches airstrikes on the area.
Qatar’s Minister of State at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, has voiced the Gulf state’s “deep concern” over the developments in Suwayda, where clashes erupted between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters this week.
In a statement to Qatar’s state news agency (QNA) on Tuesday, Al-Khulaifi stressed that Syria’s security was “an integral part of the region’s stability”.
He also called for the need to ensure “such crimes are not repeated” and to hold “accountable all parties responsible for the shedding of civilian blood”.
The Qatari official also “emphasised the importance of intensifying efforts to strengthen civil peace through dialogue and peaceful means”.
The clashes erupted on Sunday between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters following simmering tensions, prompting the intervention of security forces to restore peace in the country.
Suwayda is home to some 700,000 of Syria’s minority Druze population.
Al Jazeera reported that at least 70 people were believed to have been killed so far. Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at more than 250 as of Wednesday morning, including four children, five women, and 138 soldiers and security personnel.
The monitor also reported that at least 21 people were killed in what it described as “field executions.”
Earlier, the Syrian government announced a ceasefire late on Tuesday, which Qatar welcomed in a statement published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stresses that Syria’s security and stability are inseparable from that of the broader region. This calls for intensified regional and international efforts to support the Syrian government’s pursuit of national reconciliation,” the statement said.
However, the fighting resumed in Suwayda after the ceasefire was declared, and Israel later bombed the area.
Syria’s Ministry of Interior said, in a statement, that the Israeli occupation warplanes carried out the airstrikes “in support of” armed groups targeting security and military forces.
Israel has carried out at least 500 airstrikes on Syria since the fall of the Bashar Al-Assad regime on December 8, 2024, while repeatedly violating the country’s territorial integrity.
On Tuesday, Sheikh Yusuf Jarbou’, the spiritual leader of the Druze community, stressed that the Syrian state is “the only party that protects all its citizens from all encroachments and abuse”.
“We consider Suwayda as a role model and example to follow for its patriotism, commitment and the commitment of its people to customs, traditions, religious and social norms, but what happened today vandalised many of these norms and traditions,” he said.
