SWEIDA: An aid convoy entered the city of Sweida in southern Syria via the main highway from Damascus on Thursday, for the first time since a major outbreak of sectarian violence last month shook the country’s fragile recovery from nearly 14 years of civil war.
Clashes broke out in mid-July between government forces and local Bedouin tribesmen on one side, and fighters from the country’s Druze minority on the other. Hundreds were killed and tens of thousands displaced, and allegations have surfaced of government fighters executing Druze civilians and looting and burning houses.
Though the fighting has largely calmed down, government forces have surrounded the southern city. The Druze have said that little aid is going in, calling it a siege.
Sweida’s provincial government said in a statement Thursday that a convoy had arrived in the city via the main highway, carrying UN aid intended “to meet the residents’ basic needs.” State-run Al-Ikhbariya TV said the convoy included 18 trucks carrying food baskets, cleaning supplies and solar-powered lamps.
The main highway had been closed since the fighting, with the aid convoys that did go in taking a circuitous route by way of Daraa province, which is south of Sweida.
