Syrian government forces began withdrawing from a restive southern province as president Ahmed al-Sharaa sought to restore calm after days of deadly sectarian clashes and Israeli strikes against the Arab state.
In a hardening of his rhetoric against Syria’s southern neighbour, Mr Sharaa accused Israel of seeking to foment “endless chaos”. He said Syria faced a choice between “open war with the Israeli entity” or handing security in the Sweida province over to factions from the country’s Druze minority.
“We are not those who fear war . . . However, we prioritised the interests of Syrians over chaos and destruction,” he said during an address aired on state television on Thursday.
“The optimal choice at this stage was to make a careful decision to protect the unity of our homeland and the safety of its people, based on the supreme national interest.”
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Sweida residents and people familiar with Mr Sharaa’s decisions said government forces had begun withdrawing overnight.
Mr Sharaa announced the moves hours after Israel escalated its campaign of air strikes on Syria, bombing the defence ministry in the heart of Damascus and carrying out another strike near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital. The strikes on Damascus killed at least three people, according to Syrian officials.
Syria’s state news agency, Sana, said Israel carried out another air strike near Sweida city at around 10.45pm on Thursday.
The US, which has in recent weeks recognised Mr Sharaa’s government and lifted Assad-era sanctions on Syria, has sought to broker an end to this week’s conflict.
US state department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Thursday said the US “did not support recent Israeli strikes” and “unequivocally condemns this violence”.
“All parties must step back and engage in meaningful dialogue that leads to a lasting ceasefire,” she said, adding: “We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states.”
Israel began launching air strikes against Syrian security forces in Sweida on Monday after an eruption of fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes that escalated after Syrian government forces deployed to the southern province and were drawn into the conflict.
Israel said it had intervened to protect the Druze community, which it has actively sought to court, and to ensure southern Syria areas bordering the Jewish state are demilitarised.
Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday said: “That will also be our policy going forward – we will not allow Syrian army forces to enter the region south of Damascus, and will not allow any harm to the Druze.”
Syria’s government announced a renewed ceasefire in Sweida on Wednesday, as a previous one declared a day earlier collapsed. The latest ceasefire appeared to be holding as of Thursday morning.
The fighting and Israel’s strikes underscored Sharaa’s struggle to stabilise and unify the fragile state eight months after he led a rebel offensive that toppled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
Druze militias, which have been the dominant forces in Sweida, have refused to be integrated into the nascent government’s new national security forces.
Israel has also used the security vacuum to seize a swath of territory in southern Syria and launch repeated strikes against military infrastructure in the Arab state.
Activists described scenes of carnage in Sweida city, with government forces and Druze militias accused of killings and rights violations.
In an effort to ease the spiralling crisis, Mr Sharaa stressed in his address that the Druze were integral to the Syrian state, and “protecting your rights and freedom is one of our priorities”. He added the government had “decided to assign some local factions and religious sheikhs the responsibility of maintaining security in Sweida”.
Mr Sharaa’s government has said it does not want conflict with its neighbours and had been holding talks with Israel to ease tensions before the latest outbreak of violence.
Arab and Turkish officials have repeatedly criticised Israel’s attacks in Syria, saying they undermine efforts to stabilise the country after the 14-year civil war.
Late on Thursday evening, the foreign ministers of the Gulf states Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq issued a joint statement condemning the “repeated” Israeli attacks and saying they “support Syria’s security, unity, stability and sovereignty, and reject all outside interferences in its affairs”. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
