Officials from Syria, Egypt and the United States met on Tuesday to unveil a multistep plan aimed at ensuring peace in the Druze-majority southern province of Suwayda, which was rocked by heavy fighting earlier this summer. 

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al-Shibani, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack met in Damascus and spoke to press afterward, during which Shibani announced a national road map for the area of Suwayda.  

Violence in Suwayda erupted mid-July, when clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin tribes escalated, prompting the government to deploy security forces to the area. Government-aligned fighters stand accused of extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations against the Druze minority. 

Israel, which has a longstanding relationship with the Druze in Syria, intervened with its own airstrikes on government targets, which it claimed it launched in an effort to protect the Druze community.  

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, over 1,000 people were killed and hundreds were injured during the week of violence. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in August that roughly 190,000 people were displaced due to the conflict, mostly from Bedouin tribal groups. 

Additionally, dozens of people remain missing, large swaths of property — including homes and businesses — were destroyed and thousands of residents face urgent humanitarian needs amid a shortage of basic services, power outages, water supply disruptions and food insecurity.