Syrian State security forces have exchanged fire with an armed Druze group in the country's southern Sweida province on Monday, leading to at least 10 injuries within the forces, the State news agency Sana said.
Security forces were “repelling attacks by outlaw groups” west of Sweida in the past 24 hours, they said. Security personnel were injured after they came under shelling and machinegun fire in the Tal Hadid and Walgha areas, state media reported.
The exchange, which began late Monday and continued overnight, appeared to subside by early Tuesday morning.
Sweida, which is majority Druze, is one of the last areas in Syria outside President Ahmad Al Shara's authority. Israeli military interventions on several occasions last year played a crucial role in helping local forces maintain control of the area, despite it being surrounded by government troops and cut off from the other main Druze population centre in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus.
The National Guard, the main Druze armed group in the country, said a child had been wounded as residential areas in Sweida came under fire from government forces. Both sides had accused each other of starting the clashes by firing on each other's positions.
Security forces have been surrounding Sweida city, the provincial capital, and its suburbs since a failed government military campaign in July 2025 to subdue the area.
Israel forced a halt to the campaign by intervening militarily on the side of the Druze, but only after hundreds of civilians, who were mostly Druze, were killed. Tribal militias from eastern Syria joined government forces in the attack on Sweida, contributing to lasting sectarian scars and helping the Druze coalesce around Hikmat Al Hijri, the minority's top spiritual leader in Syria, who has called for a civil system in Syria and described the post-Assad authorities as extremist. The former regime was ousted by former Al Qaeda operatives led by Mr Al Shara, who became friendly with the US after taking power.
However, not all Druze support Mr Al Hijri. Controversy arose within the community in recent weeks after the government did not allow Druze students in Sweida to sit their exams in areas outside its control. The local administration refused to allow them to leave to sit the exams, but later relented.
State news agency Sana said the clashes coincided with protests in Sweida against the “outlaw groups” preventing students from taking exams.
