Aid convoy reaches Druze-majority Sweida after UN talks

'Big gap' in humanitarian supplies to area besieged since conflict began last month

An aid convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent begins entering Sweida Governorate. Photo: Sana.

A Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy entered the mostly Druze province of Sweida on Tuesday, only the 13th to reach the city in a month-long government siege, while authorities have admitted a “big gap” in the humanitarian needs of the area.

Twelve aid convoys only have been sent to Sweida since the conflict started on July 13, excluding the one on Tuesday, according to a statement by the Syrian Foreign Ministry issued on Tuesday – which does not cover the growing needs of the population.

The ministry staff met UN officials on Monday and discussed “gaps in the needs that have been observed on the ground”, the statement said. The ministry has granted 140 UN personnel permission to go to Sweida and to neighbouring Deraa, where hundreds of Sunni families fled last month, fearing retribution from the Druze.

“The Syrian government has not placed restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid since the crisis in the south,” the statement said, without explaining the trickle of aid that has been delivered to the province. The area's Druze leaders have refused to receive any aid unless it is delivered by a neutral organisation.

They have also accused the government of siege warfare aimed at breaking the will of the Druze and annihilating a community that had led resistance against the rule of former president Bashar Al Assad who was toppled in December by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, an offshoot group of Al Qaeda.

Photos on the official Syrian news agency Sana, showed UN cars escorting lorries that entered Swedia from the town of Busra Al Harir in Deraa, a front line in a low intensity war between the government and Sweida's Druze defenders.

Israeli military intervention last month pushed back government troops and allied militia from the provincial capital of Sweida, near the border with Jordan. Damascus posted the troops, backed by tanks and drones, to crush a defiant Druze cleric and his followers, who had demanded a civil state and local control of their areas, over the new security troops. However, the area remains encircled by forces loyal to the current state.

The Druze, who number about a million worldwide, are an offshoot of Islam. Only several hundred thousand members of the sect remain in Syria. The Druze are also present in Israel, Lebanon and Jordan.

The Druze's spiritual leadership, which is based in Sweida, have coalesced around Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, since the government's offensive in December.