Government forces aim to end clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed dozens of people in the southern Syrian city.
Syrian troops have entered the predominantly Druze city of Suwayda after days of deadly clashes with Bedouin tribes that have killed dozens of people.
The deployment on Tuesday came after the Druze spiritual leadership, which had resisted any deployment of Syrian troops in the southern city, urged Druze fighters to lay down their arms and allow government forces in.
A curfew was to be imposed on the city in a bid to halt the violence, which erupted during the weekend and has since spread across the Suwayda governorate, killing at least 99 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.
The dead include 60 Druze, including four civilians, 18 Bedouin fighters, 14 security personnel and seven unidentified people in military uniforms, the monitor said. The Ministry of Defence reported 18 deaths among the armed forces.
On Tuesday morning, Syrian military columns were seen advancing towards Suwayda, with heavy artillery deployed nearby. The Defence Ministry later said they had entered the city, and urged people to “stay home and report any movements of outlaw groups”.
It is the first time government forces have deployed to Suwayda since the overthrow of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad in December and the formation of an interim government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that originated as a 10th-century offshoot of a branch of Shia Islam. In Syria, the 700,000-strong community primarily resides in the southern Suwayda province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.
Bedouin and Druze factions have a longstanding feud in Suwayda, with violence occasionally erupting.
Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid, reporting from Deir Az Azor in Syria, said fighting in the city had been ongoing since Friday.
“It escalated and more than two dozen people were killed. The government sent its reinforcements and then there was an ambush of the government troops as well, where at least 18 soldiers we believe were either killed or wounded,” he said.
Bin Javaid said the situation has been exacerbated by Israeli attacks on government positions in Syria.
Israel, which has attempted to portray itself as a protector of the Druze in Syria and sees them as potential allies, bombed several Syrian tanks on Monday.
“There have been a number of attacks by Israel, and the Israelis have said that any movement of personnel or hardware in the south of Syria will continue to be monitored by the Israeli army and [they] will continue to attack them as well,” Bin Javaid said.
