Israel allows Syrian troops limited access to Southern city of Sweida

Israel and Syria have agreed to a truce, according to the US envoy to Turkey, following days of killing in the mostly Druze territory that has killed over 300 people.

Israel conducted airstrikes in Damascus on Wednesday, and targeted government forces in the south, demanding their withdrawal and claiming that it sought to defend Syrian Druze, a small but prominent community with members in both Lebanon and Israel.

Smoke billowed over the besieged southern Syrian city of Sweida on Friday, capping nearly a week of slaughter that has killed over 300 people.

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey  Tom Barrack, said in a post on X “We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity.”

Barrack said that Israel and Syria agreed to the ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and neighbors.

Syria’s Sweida province has been engulfed by nearly a week of violence triggered by clashes between Bedouin fighters and Druze factions.

Earlier on Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area of southern Syria for the next two days.

The Syrian presidency said late on Friday that authorities would deploy a force in the south dedicated to ending the clashes, in coordination with political and security measures to restore stability and prevent the return of violence.

Damascus earlier this week dispatched government troops to quell the fighting, but they were accused of carrying out widespread violations against the Druze and were hit by Israeli strikes before withdrawing under a truce agreed on Wednesday.

Israel had repeatedly said it would not allow Syrian troops to deploy to the country’s south, but on Friday it said it would grant them a brief window to end renewed clashes there.

“In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the (Syrian) internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours,” the official, who declined to be named, told reporters.

Israel has vowed to shield the area’s Druze community from attack, encouraged by calls from Israel’s own Druze minority.