Clashes erupt across Syria’s Sweida, leaving civilians wounded: SANA

• The fighting reportedly began following a dispute over a small petrol station between members of two families.
• A lawyer and several other civilians were wounded.

Heavy clashes erupted between armed groups in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Thursday, leaving several civilians wounded, according to Syria’s state-run SANA news agency.

The Sweida Media Directorate told SANA that preliminary information indicated the clashes had spread from the eastern al-Maqous neighborhood to Sweida’s central market and the al-Mashourab neighborhood.

Local sources told SANA that the violence began with a personal dispute over a small petrol-selling station between members of the Abu Sarhan and Radwan families.

According to the sources, members of the Abu Sarhan family allegedly opened fire on a man from the Radwan family and seized his vehicle, triggering an escalation into armed confrontations that spread across several neighborhoods.

A lawyer and other civilians were among those wounded in the clashes, the report said, without providing an exact number of casualties.

The latest clashes come amid persistent security challenges in Sweida, a predominantly Druze province in southern Syria that has experienced repeated episodes of armed violence and tensions since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Dec. 2024. The province has faced disputes over security arrangements, the role of local armed factions and the extent of central government authority, leaving the region vulnerable to recurring confrontations.

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