In fighting between Bedouin tribes and local fighters in the predominantly Druzzian city of Sweida in southern Syria certainly 37 people diedreports the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). At least fifty people were also injured.
Among the dead are 27 Druzen, including two children, and ten Bedouins. It is the first time since May that there is another eruption of fatal violence in the area. Then it was about fighting between the Druze community and government forces. Fighting would also have broken out in other cities in southern Syria.
The government has sent soldiers to the area to get the situation back under control. According to the SOHR, a number of them have already become involved in the fighting against Druzzian shooters.
Druzen are a religious and ethnic minority group that have a long-term feud with Bedouins in southern Syria, which are nomadic Arab tribes. Since the fall of the Assad regime last December, tensions between different population groups have led to new violence.