Syrian authorities evacuate Bedouin civilians from Sweida as fragile truce holds

Not enough aid supplies have entered the city

Syrian Bedouin families ride in the back of lorries carrying their belongings, in a convoy led by Red Crescent vehicles. AP

The Syrian government has evacuated hundreds of Bedouin families from the mostly Druze city of Sweida to Deraa in a bid to prevent further fighting as a fragile ceasefire appears to hold.

A truce ended a week of deadly clashes in Sweida but the city appears to remain under siege, with government troops and auxiliaries surrounding both the city and its rural outskirts.

A Syrian Red Crescent official told The National that the families, many of them from Bedouin backgrounds, were taken in 120 buses to the near by province of Deraa, the launch pad of fierce attacks against Sweida by the government.

Syria's state news agency said a total of 1,500 Bedouins would be evacuated from Sweida city.

The government troops, comprised mainly of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an Al Qaeda offshoot, attacked Sweida after the Druze spiritual leader Hikmat Al Hijri refused arrival of security troops last week.

The government sought to send its troops to the city after mutual kidnappings between the Sunnis and the Druze, followed by sectarian clashes.

Fighting in Sweida last week escalated into an all-out offensive by Syria's government, which ended after two attempted ceasefires and Israeli strikes on Damascus in the name of protecting the Druze.

A US envoy on Monday criticised Israel's recent intervention, calling it poorly timed and saying it complicated efforts to stabilise the region. Tom Barrack, who is also US ambassador to Turkey, told the Associated Press there was “no Plan B" to working with Syria's new government to unite the country.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile praised Syria's leader Ahmad Al Shara for taking a strong stance during the conflict with Israel. He said Mr Al Shara took a "very positive" step by reaching an understanding with the Druze, according to comments released to Turkish media on Monday.

Evacuating members of the Bedouin community ride a bus stopping at a security checkpoint in Taarah, in Syria's southern Sweida. AFP

The aid official said that the Red Crescent is ready to send more aid to Sweida after dozens of lorries reached the city from Damascus on Sunday, carrying mainly flour and basic foods. “We can provide Sweida with every thing for initial recovery,” he said, declining to say why no more additional supplies were sent since.

Residents of Sweida have been holed up in their homes without electricity and water and food supplies have been scarce.

Khaldoun, a doctor in the main hospital in the city, who did not want to give his last name, said no medical supplies have reached the hospital and that the situation is “catastrophic”, with hundreds of bodies in the hospital and supplies dwindling to treat the wounded.

The UN said on Sunday that humanitarian convoys with medical supplies had been waiting to enter Sweida for two days but were not granted access. Only a convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent was allowed to enter.

Under a deal brokered last week by Mr Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, government troops withdrew from Sweida city to its environs. The agreement stipulated a prisoners exchange, safe passage for those in Sweida who wish to leave to do so, and the flow of humanitarian aid, diplomats in Amman said.

The Interior Ministry said on Sunday that Sweida city was “evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city's neighbourhoods were halted”.

The UN migration agency said more than 128,000 people in Sweida province have been displaced by the violence.