Syria says 10 security personnel wounded in Sweida

Syrian state television said 10 government security personnel were wounded in clashes with local armed groups in Sweida province on Monday.

State television, citing the Internal Security Command in Sweida province, said the personnel were wounded after “outlaw groups” targeted points in the Tal Hadid area and the Walgha axis. It had earlier reported four wounded in the western countryside of Sweida.

The unrest followed similar clashes west of Sweida city in which two civilians were killed, according to two local security sources.

The National Guard, a local armed group affiliated with Druze Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, accused government forces on Monday night of firing mortar shells and 23mm machine guns with the aim of harming civilians. The group said a child was wounded and that it was responding to the sources of fire.

A Druze security source told AFP that a shell launched Sunday from a government-controlled area hit a tractor on the outskirts of Sweida city, killing the driver and a woman who was with him.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that government forces and Druze armed groups had been exchanging fire since Saturday night.

Sweida city and other parts of the southern province are controlled by local armed groups. They remain outside the control of Syria’s new authorities, who took power after longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled in 2024.