Syrian Forces Withdraw From Sweida
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Israel has agreed to allow limited access by Syrian forces into the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days, an Israeli official said on Friday, after days of bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has killed over 300 people.
Syria’s interior ministry spokesperson stated on Friday that government forces were not prepared to redeploy to Sweida Province, according to the official news agency
Attacks against Druze civilians, allegedly carried out by members of government forces, have multiplied in recent days in the city of Sweida and its surrounding areas, which remain cut off from the outside world.
One elderly man had been shot in the head in his living room. Another in his bedroom. The body of a woman lay in the street. After days of bloodshed in Syria's Druze city of Sweida, survivors emerged on Thursday to collect and bury the scores of dead found across the city.
Syrian troops have pulled out of the Druze heartland of Sweida on the orders of the Islamist-led government, following days of deadly clashes that killed nearly 600 people, according to a war monitor.
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The Israeli army continued to build a concrete wall on Friday to enforce the fence area separating the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria.
Bloodshed in Sweida left at least 321 people dead, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said on Friday, in a new toll.
The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva reported on Friday that fresh clashes had broken out in the Syrian province of Sweida, and that it had received "credible" reports of human rights violations. Some groups were deliberately trying to incite further violence with disinformation,