Syrian government forces have completed their withdrawal from the southern Suwayda province after a cease-fire ended days of bloodshed in the Druze-majority province, a war monitor and witnesses confirmed Thursday.
The pullout came after interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa said in a televised address that "responsibility" for security in Suwayda would be handed to religious elders and some local factions, "based on the supreme national interest."
"The Syrian authorities have withdrawn their military forces from the city of Suwayda and the the whole province, and Druze fighters have deployed" in their place, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Government troops who had pulled out of the province told AFP that the order to withdraw came shortly before midnight (9 p.m. GMT Wednesday) and they completed their pullout at dawn.
"The city of Suwayda seems devoid of any government forces presence," the editor in chief of the Suwayda24 news website, Rayan Maarouf, told AFP.
Government forces had deployed to the city Tuesday with the stated aim of overseeing a truce, following days of deadly clashes between Druze fighters and Bedouin tribes.
Some witnesses alleged that government forces joined the Bedouin in attacking Druze fighters and civilians.
Neighbouring Israel intervened with strikes on the Syrian military, including its headquarters in Damascus, which it warned would intensify until the government withdrew its forces from the south.
Israel, home to around 150,000 Druze citizens, calims its intention is to defend the Druze of Syria from violence that have broken out since anti-regime forces now in power in Damascus toppled longtime dictator Bashar Assad in December.
The Israeli military, which has taken control of the U.N.-monitored demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights and conducted hundreds of strikes on military targets in Syria, also says it will not allow any Syrian military presence on its border.
Despite having initiated contact, Israel remains extremely wary of Syria's new rulers, including President al-Sharaa.
