Syria Says Tribal Fighters Withdraw from Sweida as U.S. Urges Action Against Jihadists

According to Syria’s Interior Ministry, tribal fighters have been removed from the southern city of Sweida and violent confrontations have stopped.

“After intensive efforts by the Ministry of Interior to implement the ceasefire agreement, following the deployment of its forces in the northern and western regions of Sweida Governorate, the city of Sweida was evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighborhoods were halted,” ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba stated in a Telegram post.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Syrian authorities to stop jihadist groups from entering the volatile southern region and committing further atrocities.

“If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria… they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent ISIS and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres,” Rubio said in a statement on X.

His comments follow several days of heavy fighting in the Druze-majority city of Sweida and its surrounding areas, where local Druze forces clashed with Sunni Bedouin tribes. The tribes were eventually joined by Syrian government troops.