Hussein, Saoud, and Mohammed arrived at the western outskirts of Sweida on Thursday, July 17, all squeezed together on a single motorcycle. The three men in their thirties, hailing from Kiswah, a southern suburb of Damascus, had traveled more than 60 kilometers to go and fight the Druze factions who had holed up in the southern Syrian city. They answered the call issued by tribal and clan leaders that day, after Syrian government forces withdrew under pressure from Israeli airstrikes. Israel had intervened in support of the Druze factions, which had been fighting against local Bedouin tribes since July 13.

"When the government forces withdrew, the Druze took advantage of the situation to kill and abduct Bedouins from the city. They are our cousins, we came to defend them," said Hussein, an unemployed economics graduate, interviewed on Saturday in the town of Busra al-Harir, 20 kilometers west of Sweida.

Armed with rifles stolen from police stations in the chaos following the fall of Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad, in December 2024, the three friends fought until they ran out of ammunition. While in downtown Sweida, they said, they came under artillery fire and were targeted by Druze snipers. The tribal fighters, Mohammed said, "entered the city alone, without command. That led to many mistakes and friendly fire." He said he had helped to free three Bedouin families who had been trapped by the fighting.

'When the clan calls, you must answer'

Sitting in the health center at Busra al-Harir, on Saturday, July 19, the three friends watched, somewhat dazed, as a steady stream of wounded and dead men, all tribal fighters, were brought back from the front lines by ambulance crews. Sunni doctor Mohammed al-Hariri, who runs the center as a stabilization point, said it was "a terrible situation, but not as bad as yesterday." The ceasefire concluded between the authorities in Damascus and Druze notables in Sweida, announced at dawn after Washington negotiated a truce between Israel and Syria, was only largely respected from Sunday onward.

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