Ceasefire collapses in Syria’s Suwayda as Israel threatens escalation

Sectarian violence in the predominantly Druze city has resumed in force with deaths reported in the dozens.

Fighting between Druze armed groups and government troops has continued in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda, with a ceasefire in tatters, as Israel launched further strikes on Syrian forces and warned it would escalate unless they withdrew.

The sectarian violence in the predominantly Druze city resumed in force on Wednesday, despite the announcement of a ceasefire by the Syrian government the previous night, Syria’s defence ministry told Al Jazeera. Ministry officials blamed groups “outside the law” for breaking the ceasefire and attacking government troops, who they said were responding to fire while taking into account rules of engagement to protect civilians.

Speaking from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Osama Bin Javaid said that following Tuesday’s ceasefire announcement, the situation had “spiralled out of control once again”.

He said at least 70 people were believed to have been killed in the fighting so far, while the U.K.-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that more than 250 people had been killed, as of Wednesday morning, including four children, five women and 138 soldiers and security forces. The observatory added that at least 21 people were killed in “field executions.”

“The situation on the ground is [in] that the city centre itself there are sporadic clashes, but on the outskirts there’s a lot of fighting that has been happening between these Druze fighters and [government] forces,” Bin Javaid said.