Syrian forces redeploying to ease renewed clashes in the south

Syrian security forces are redeploying to the southern province of Sweida to quell renewed fighting between the Druze and Bedouin tribes, Al Jazeera reported on Friday, citing a source from the Syrian interim government's interior department as saying.

The source revealed that the decision by the government to redeploy its forces to Sweida follows appeals by locals for help, Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr reported from Damascus.

"It is an old fault line between Bedouin tribes and some Druze factions, and there have been bouts of violence since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad in December … But this time around, it is a different situation because Bedouin tribes are calling for the state's intervention," she said. "The big question is what will Israel do? It has said it will not allow the presence of government forces in the south."

Israel has previously warned the Syrian interim authorities to withdraw from the south and its forces carried out an attack on Syria's Palmyra-Homs highway on Friday, targeting a convoy of Bedouin fighters who were reportedly making their way toward Sweida, according to Israel's public broadcaster Kan News.

But Israel denied on Friday that it had conducted further airstrikes.

"The (Israeli military) is not aware of overnight strikes in Syria," a spokesperson told AFP.

This came just two days after Israel carried out heavy attacks on Damascus. Israel, which has its own Druze community, has presented itself as a defender of the group, although some analysts say that is a pretext for pursuing its own military goal of keeping Syrian government forces away from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Geng Shuang, China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, condemned Israeli military strikes on Syria and demanded an immediate end to them on Thursday.

He told an emergency meeting of the Security Council that Israel's actions gravely violate international law, infringe on Syria's sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity, and bring new complications to Syria's peace, stability, and political transition.

"We call on Israel to immediately cease its military strikes on Syria and withdraw from Syrian territory as soon as possible," he said.

A US State Department spokesperson said that Washington "did not support (the) recent Israeli strikes".

Foreign ministers from 11 countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, affirmed their support on Thursday for the Syrian interim authorities in a joint statement.

They also strongly condemned the Israeli attacks, describing them as a "blatant violation of international law and a flagrant assault on Syria's sovereignty", the statement said.