Syrian forces withdraw from Sweida after ceasefire

Damascus: Syrian government forces largely withdrew from the southern province of Sweida Thursday following days of vicious clashes with militias of the Druze minority.

Under a ceasefire agreement reached the day before, which largely halted the hostilities, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security in Sweida, Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa said in an address broadcast early Thursday.

The dayslong fighting threatened to unravel Syria’s postwar political transition and brought in further military intervention by its powerful

neighbour Israel.