The mainly Druze residents of the Syrian city of Sweida had hoped the arrival of government forces on Tuesday would spell an end to deadly sectarian clashes with local Bedouin tribes.
Instead they spoke of executions, looting and arson as government troops and their allies rampaged through Druze neighbourhoods, prompting thousands from the religious minority to flee.
“Government forces entered the city on the pretext of restoring order… but unfortunately they indulged in savage practices,” said Rayan Maarouf, editor in chief of the Suwayda 24 news website.
“There have been cases of civilians being killed… dozens of them… but we don’t have precise figures,” he added, blaming government fighters and their allies.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, government forces executed 12 civilians in a guesthouse in the city, in just one incident among many said to have taken place in the area.
Syria’s defence minister had declared a “complete ceasefire” in the city late Tuesday morning, but locals said the announcement had little effect on the ground.
An AFP correspondent who entered Sweida shortly after government forces reported dead bodies left lying on deserted streets as sporadic gunfire rang out.
“I’m in the centre of Sweida. There are executions, houses and shops that have been torched, and robberies and looting,” one Sweida resident holed up in his home told AFP by phone.
“One of my friends who lives in the west of the city told me that they entered his home, chased out his family after taking their mobile phones and then set fire to it,” added the resident, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution.
AFP correspondents saw smoke rising over several areas of the city of some 150,000 people.
Another resident said he had seen armed men in civilian clothes “looting shops and setting fire to them”.
“They’re firing indiscriminately, I am afraid to leave the house,” he said, adding that he regretted “not leaving before they arrived”.
– Civilians killed –
It is a scenario that has played out multiple times since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad by Islamist rebels in December.
In each case, former rebels recruited into the new Syrian army were joined by fighters without any clear uniform, and violence against civilians ensued.
The worst episode was in March, when more than 1,700 civilians were killed along Syria’s Mediterranean coast — most of them members of the ousted president’s Alawite community — in attacks carried out by government forces and their allies.
On Tuesday, government forces entered Sweida with the stated aim of ending the sectarian violence that had claimed more than 100 lives earlier this week.
But the Observatory, Druze leaders and witnesses said they entered the city accompanied by Bedouin fighters, and joined with them in attacking the Druze.
One AFP video showed Bedouin fighters riding through the streets on a government tank, brandishing their weapons in celebration.
– Statues destroyed –
The fighters toppled several statues in public squares, AFP images showed. Hardline Islamists believe such representations of the human form to be idolatrous.
Unverified video footage circulating on social media showed armed men forcibly shaving off the moustache of an elderly Druze, a grave insult in the community.
The Israeli military said it had carried out several air strikes on the forces that entered Sweida.
An AFP correspondent saw one Syrian army vehicle in the city centre that had taken a direct hit. Several bodies were left dangling over its sides.
The Israeli military said it was acting to protect the Druze, although some analysts have said that was a pretext for pursuing its own military goals.
Thousands of the city’s residents fled, seeking safety nearer the Jordanian border, Maarouf said.
In the nearby village of Walgha, an AFP correspondent found a group of displaced civilians sheltering in a mosque.
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© Agence France-Presse
