World News

At Least 30 Killed in Southern Syria as Religious Violence Grows

Published by Tope Fakinlede on July 14th, 2025.

At Least 30 Killed in Southern Syria as Religious Violence Grows

At least 30 people have died and over 100 were injured in violent clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze community in southern Syria. The fighting happened in Sweida, a city mostly made up of Druze people, and is one of the deadliest outbreaks of violence since President Bashar al-Assad’s government was removed in December 2024.

The Syrian Interior Ministry confirmed 30 deaths, while another group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported 37, based on local sources. The fighting has forced the country’s new Islamic-led government to send in security forces to try and calm the situation.

After Assad’s fall, Syria has been unstable. His removal ended more than 50 years of his family’s rule. Sunni rebels led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took over the capital, Damascus, but the new government has struggled to keep control and stop violence between different groups.

On Monday, the governor of Sweida, Mustapha al-Bakur, went on TV asking people to stay calm and support efforts to rebuild the country. Druze religious leaders also called for peace, worried the violence could get worse.

The Druze are a small religious group with communities in Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan. During Syria’s civil war, they mostly supported Assad’s government, hoping it would protect them. Now that Assad is gone, they feel unprotected and left out by the new Sunni-majority leadership.

Some Druze people recently told the BBC that they’re afraid of being attacked and losing their political voice. Other minority groups, like the Alawites (Assad’s group) and Christians, are also facing danger. Many Alawites have been killed in recent months, and there was even an attack on a church in Damascus.

This rise in violence comes at a time when the world is watching Syria closely. The U.S. recently removed HTS from its terrorist list, which may mean changing its approach to Syria. Also, in a historic move, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, visited Syria — the first visit by a British official since the war

began in 2011.