Trump’s Syria gamble tested by unrest in Suwayda
The recent bloodshed in southern Syria is testing the Trump administration’s policy toward the war-torn country and complicating hopes for its potential normalization with Israel.
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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration can breathe a cautious sigh of relief after scrambling to defuse several days of deadly clashes in Syria that threatened to plunge the country back into sectarian conflict.
Syrian government forces on Wednesday evening began withdrawing from Suwayda, a predominantly Druze region in the country’s south, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States helped broker a ceasefire between the parties, including Israel.
More than 370 people are dead, including over 200 members of the Syrian security forces, after four days of unrest, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
