(14 Jul 2025)
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RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Daraa, Syria – 14 July 2025
1. Mid of men gathered in Daraa province on the outskirts of Sweida
2. Wide of men on the road surrounded by vehicles
3. Mid of men on the road talking and holding weapons
4. Wide of utility van with weapons on it and men walking around
5. Close of weapon on vehicle
6. Mid of men standing on top of vehicle holding weapon
7. Wide of cars driving along the street with men holding weapons
8. Mid of Internal Security Command vehicles with man walking past holding weapon
9. Pan left of vehicles and men on top of vehicle holding weapon
10. Mid of man standing on street with weapon
11. Mid of man on vehicle holding weapon
12. Track left of Internal Security Command vehicle driving along street
STORYLINE:
Troops gathered in Daraa, Syria, on Monday as Syrian forces clashed with Druze militias.
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.
The Interior Ministry said more than 30 people died and nearly 100 others have been injured in that fighting.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, reported at least 50 dead, including two children and six members of the security forces.
Israel’s army on Monday said it struck military tanks in southern Syria as Syrian government forces and Bedouin tribes clashed with Druze militias there.
Israel has previously threatened to intervene in Syria in defense of the Druze religious minority.
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.
Clashes 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.
The Druze religious sect is a minority group that began as a 10th-century offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam.
In Syria, they largely live in the southern Sweida province and some suburbs of Damascus, mainly in Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya to the south.
The Druze developed their own militias during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.
Since Assad’s fall, different Druze factions have been at odds over whether to integrate with the new government and armed forces.
AP Video by Abd Al-Rahman Shaheen
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