Busra al-Harir, 14 July

Israel's army said Monday it has struck military tanks in southern Syria as Syrian government forces and Bedouin tribes clashed with Druze militias there.

Dozens of people have been killed in the fighting between local militias and clans in Syria's Sweida province. Government security forces that were sent to restore order Monday also clashed with local armed groups.

Syria's Interior Ministry has said more than 30 people died and nearly 100 others have been injured in that fighting. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, reported at least 64 dead, including two children, a woman and six members of the security forces.

The clashes in Syria initially broke out between armed groups from the Druze and Sunni Bedouin clans, the observatory said, with some members of the government security forces “actively participating” in support of the Bedouins.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine al-Baba said government forces entered Sweida in the early morning to restore order.

“Some clashes occurred with outlawed armed groups, but our forces are doing their best to prevent any civilian casualties,” he told the state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV.

The observatory said the clashes started after a series of kidnappings between both groups, which began when members of a Bedouin tribe in the area set up a checkpoint where they attacked and robbed a young Druze man.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the observatory, said the conflict started with the kidnapping and robbery of a Druze vegetable seller, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings.

Syria's defence and interior ministries were deploying personnel to the area to attempt to restore order.

The Interior Ministry described the situation as a dangerous escalation that “comes in the absence of the relevant official institutions, which has led to an exacerbation of the state of chaos, the deterioration of the security situation, and the inability of the local community to contain the situation despite repeated calls for calm.”

Israel has previously intervened in Syria in defence of the Druze religious minority. In May, Israeli forces struck a site near the presidential palace in Damascus, in what was seen as a warning to Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement at the time that Israel “will not allow the deployment of (Syrian government) forces south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”

Over half of the roughly 1 million Druze worldwide live in Syria. Most other Druze live in Lebanon and Israel, including in the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed in 1981.

In Israel, Druze are seen as a loyal minority and often serve in the armed forces.

Factions from the Druze minority have been suspicious of the new authorities in Damascus after former President Bashar Assad fled the country in December during a rebel offensive led by Sunni Islamist insurgent groups. On several occasions, Druze groups have clashed with security forces from the new government or allied factions.

The Druze developed their own militias during the country's nearly 14-year civil war, during which they sometimes faced attacks by the Islamic State and other Islamist militant groups.

Israel has taken an aggressive stance toward Syria's new leaders since Assad's fall, saying it does not want Islamist militants near its borders. Israeli forces earlier seized a UN-patrolled buffer zone on Syrian territory along the border with the Golan Heights and have launched hundreds of airstrikes on military sites in Syria.

The Trump administration has been pushing for the new Syrian government to move toward normalisation with Israel. Syrian officials have acknowledged holding indirect talks with Israel to attempt to defuse tensions, but have not responded to reports that the two sides have also held direct talks.

US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack told The Associated Press last week that he believes normalising ties will happen “like unwrapping an onion, slowly.”