Damascus - Saba:
The death toll from armed clashes and Israeli airstrikes in the Sweida Governorate, southern Syria, has risen to 718.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement last night that 19 civilians, including women, were killed in the town of Sahwat al-Balata in the Sweida countryside, following a horrific massacre that occurred as forces from the Ministry of Defense and Public Security entered the village. This brings the death toll to 718 since the beginning of the bloody events in the city.
SOHR sources also reported the outbreak of clashes in Jaramana in the Damascus countryside, accompanied by sounds of gunfire from the direction of al-Maliha and Kashkul, which lasted for more than an hour. According to the Observatory's tally, the death toll since Sunday morning, July 13, as a result of clashes, summary executions, and Israeli bombardment, has reached 718. Of these, 226 were from As-Suwayda Governorate, including 80 civilians, four children, and four women.
The remaining casualties included 18 members of the Bedouin tribes, and 287 members of the Syrian security forces.
In addition, 15 members of the security forces were killed in Israeli airstrikes, and three people, including a woman and two unidentified individuals, were killed in an Israeli bombardment targeting the Ministry of Defense building in the capital, Damascus.
The Observatory recorded the death of a journalist during the clashes in As-Suwayda, and 165 people, including 26 women, six children, and an elderly man, were summarily executed by members of the Ministries of Defense and Interior.
Three members of the Bedouin tribes, including a woman and a child, were summarily executed by armed groups from the Druze community, according to the Syrian Observatory. Clashes continue in the city of Sweida, while the humanitarian situation there continues to deteriorate amid a complete disruption of communications and the internet, and all hospitals are out of service as a result of the heavy shelling and ongoing clashes. The city has witnessed looting and theft, exacerbating the suffering of the population amid a complete lack of medical and food services.
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