Clashes in Syria’s Suwayda leave 10 security personnel wounded
SUWAYDA, Syria (North Press) – Syria’s Internal Security Directorate on Tuesday said the number of its personnel wounded had risen to 10 after local armed groups targeted security positions in the western countryside of Suwayda, southern Syria.
Clashes broke out on Monday between gunmen from the National Guard and Internal Security forces in Walgha, Mansoura and Tel Hadid in western Suwayda, according to local media reports.
The Internal Security Command said in a statement to Syria’s Alikhbaria news channel that “outlaw groups targeted positions of the Internal Security forces tasked with securing the governorate with mortar shells and heavy machine guns” in the Tel Hadid and Walgha areas.
It added that the groups also targeted an Internal Security pickup truck, resulting in injuries among civilians and security personnel.
The command said the escalation coincided with protests in the governorate against preventing students from traveling to examination centers.
Local sources in Suwayda told North Press that areas around the city and residential neighborhoods came under mortar and heavy machine-gun fire.
The exchange of fire and shelling involving government forces also sparked a large fire in agricultural land near the clashes. The Suwayda Fire Brigade immediately began containing the blaze, amid heightened tensions in the city’s western countryside and concerns over a possible military escalation.
Earlier on Monday, the National Guard said in a statement that “government forces at 7:30 PM launched several mortar shells and indiscriminate fire from 23-mm machine guns” toward west of the city and several other directions, “with the aim of harming civilians.”
The statement added that the attack wounded a child in the thigh with shrapnel, while the remaining damage was limited to property.