Almost 600 killed in recent south Syria violence, monitoring group says | BBC News - video Dailymotion

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A monitoring group said 594 people have been killed during the recent violence in southern Syria that took on a sectarian dimension.    The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) documented a significant outbreak of brutality in the killings that have gripped Suweida province since Sunday.    Three hundred members of the Druze religious minority were killed, including 146 fighters and 154 civilians, 83 of whom were "summarily executed" by government forces, the SOHR said on Thursday evening.    The fighting was sparked by a dispute between the Bedouin and Druze communities.   Another 15 government personnel were reportedly killed in Israeli air strikes, which Israel said it carried out to protect the Druze and make the government forces withdraw from Suweida.   It was not immediately possible to verify the SOHR's figures.   However, security sources put the toll at 300 and another monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said it had documented the deaths of at least 169 civilians.   #syria #bbcnews  The Syrian government announced a ceasefire on Wednesday evening ahead of its withdrawal however, one prominent Druze leader, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, rejected it, calling for further fighting until the "total liberation of our province from gangs", referring to government forces.

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00:00The Syrian government says it's preparing to redeploy security forces to quell fighting

00:04between the Druze and Bedouin tribes in the southern city of Suweda. Nearly 600 people in

00:11Suweda are reported to have been killed since Sunday in sectarian violence between Druze

00:16militias and Bedouin tribes loyal to the government. The Syrian troops' redeployment comes as the

00:22Trump administration has issued a rare rebuke to Israel, saying it didn't support its strikes

00:27on Syria this week. Israel bombed both the capital Damascus, these were strikes on government

00:32buildings on Wednesday, and Suweda carrying out fresh strikes on Thursday evening. It

00:37says its intervention is to protect the Druze minority. The U.S. State Department spokesperson

00:43Tammy Bruce said the U.S. condemns the violence in Syria and is actively engaging all sides

00:48there. She had this to say on the Israeli strikes. The United States did not support recent Israeli

00:54strikes. We are engaging diplomatically with Israel and Syria at the highest levels, both

01:00to address the present crisis and reach a lasting agreement between the two sovereign states.

01:07President Trump has outlined his clear vision of a prosperous Middle East and stable Syria

01:12at peace with itself and its neighbors. Peace among neighbors, including Israel and Syria,

01:18is a critical component of this vision. Let's go live to Damascus now and our Middle East correspondent,

01:24Lina Sinjab. So a rare rebuke, Lina, how has that been received?

01:30Well, you know, basically, this is a clear message that the Americans want to support this government.

01:39They don't want to be seen as, you know, praising an Israeli attack that will weaken and actually

01:47weakened this government. However, many people we spoke to said that probably without these

01:53Israeli airstrikes, a peace, you know, a ceasefire deal wouldn't have taken place. Now, we've

02:00heard reports about, you know, possible redeployment of security forces rather than military ones

02:06by the official government here. We still haven't had any confirmation on where they are heading,

02:13on how they are heading. But talking to some people, it seems they're waiting for some sort

02:17of an agreement with forces inside Sueda to be able to advance and head towards the city there.

02:27And what is the situation overnight in terms of any action that has happened and what were the targets?

02:36Well, many, you know, tribal fighters have gathered in different areas around the city of Sueda.

02:45Some people told me they are located four to five kilometers surrounding the city,

02:50and they were located on two main entrants, one to the north and one to the west of the city. And this

02:57is where exactly the two, you know, the two areas that Israelis did some strikes yesterday to deter

03:05these tribal fighters from advancing into the city. The problem is that there are lots of hatred

03:11messages coming out, lots of incitement coming out, pushing many Sunni youth or fighters or whoever

03:18is affiliated with the government to go for revenge killing. They're blaming the situation on one tribal,

03:25on one Druze leader, mainly Al-Hajri. They are accusing him of being supported by Israel and

03:31calling on Israel to protect the Druze, something that he denied, of course, but that's giving a

03:38justification for the fighters to move in. And there are many calls to de-escalate the situation

03:45and stop the killing in Sueda, basically, because it's all based on sectarian tension

03:51that will not serve the unity of the country.

03:54Lina, for the moment, thank you very much, Lina Sinjab in Damascus. Well, let's speak to Dalia

03:59Scheindlin, an Israeli political analyst and fellow at the think tank Century International. She joins us

04:05now from Tel Aviv. Dalia, thank you for joining us here on BBC News. How much attention are these

04:11strikes getting in Israel? Well, they're getting a huge amount of attention. I think it's interesting to

04:17note just how much attention they're getting. I wouldn't say it's wrong or surprising entirely

04:24because it is a very dramatic situation that affects all of the Druze who live in the north

04:29in the Golan Heights, which of course, those are families who were separated by the 1967 war when

04:35Israel first occupied and then annexed the Golan Heights. So it does affect a great many people.

04:40And of course, it's a great public concern because there has always been fear in Israel of the new regime,

04:45the Ashara Jolani regime. But I would say that it has in a way muscled out almost everything else

04:53that has taken a bit of a backseat over the last couple of days, which again, not to underestimate

04:58how important this issue is. But when you consider that Israel is in the throes of a not very successful

05:04negotiation indirectly with Hamas in Qatar during this phase, trying to reach a deal to release hostages

05:12in Gaza after the Prime Minister's visit to Washington, during which people don't really

05:16know what the outcome of that was, and the anticipation of a ceasefire which hasn't happened,

05:21in a way, it almost feels like the news and the government is focusing particularly on the

05:27situation in Syria as a bit of a distraction. I wouldn't say it's planned that way, but that has

05:32been in practice what has taken over the news cycle over the last couple of days.

05:35What difference do you think it will make that the United States has unusually rebuked the Netanyahu

05:41government for these strikes against Syria?

05:43Well, there is definitely an attempt to avoid any appearance and actual policy that involves

05:52disagreement with the US. So I think there's certainly very close coordination and an attempt

05:57to convey that Israel won't go against US wishes entirely. However, it is worth pointing out that there

06:03has, you know, I don't think it's a secret that there has been a difference of opinion on this

06:07the entire time. It's one of the, it was one of the American policy of basically embracing

06:14the Ashara regime, the new government, you know, Trump visiting, Trump meeting with him and shaking

06:20his hand and also cancelling the sanctions on Syria was, you know, received mixed reactions in

06:25Israel. And the Netanyahu government has made a big effort to portray this as a bad jihadi regime

06:30that is dangerous. And, you know, that, that Israel maintains, you know, significant suspicions

06:37towards this regime. On the other hand, there has also been a somewhat of a contradictory perspective

06:42of the Israeli government, which has been holding some sort of back channel negotiations,

06:48as we understand, to possibly reach some sort of a security agreement. So there, there are mixed

06:52messages coming out. But of course, Israel will not want to be seen as going fundamentally against

06:57American interests here. Dalia Scheindlin from the think tank Century International. Thank you very much.

Almost 600 killed in recent south Syria violence, monitoring group says | BBC News

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