SWEIDA, Syria: Two civilians were killed near the Druze-majority city of Sweida in southern Syria on Sunday, two local security sources told AFP, during suspected clashes between local armed groups and government forces.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reported the same death toll, adding that government forces and armed groups from the Druze minority group had been exchanging fire since Saturday night.

Tensions have been high in Sweida province since clashes between Druze and government-aligned forces last year led to some of the worst communal violence since the fall of longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad in 2024.

A Druze security source told AFP on condition of anonymity that a shell launched from a government-controlled area “targeted the outskirts of the city of Sweida, striking a tractor and killing two people on board, the driver and a woman who was with him.”

Sweida city and other parts of the surrounding Druze-majority province are run by armed groups and are the last major areas outside the grasp of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, who have been trying to unite the country after toppling Assad.

The Druze are an Arabic-speaking religious minority in Syria comprising around three percent of the country’s population.

The security source, requesting anonymity, also said that “intermittent clashes have been taking place between the National Guard and government forces since Saturday night,” referring to prominent Druze leader Hikmat Al-Hijri’s armed group.

A second source who inspected the missile strike site said that “the tractor was completely burned,” adding that the two victims were farmers.

The Syrian government did not immediately comment.

Druze armed groups’ latest row with Damascus came on Saturday when they refused to allow students to head to government-controlled areas to sit for official exams.

In July 2025, clashes erupted in Sweida between Druze factions and Bedouin fighters, with government security forces intervening on the side of the Bedouins along with other tribal groups.

In the end, more than 2,000 people were killed, including 789 Druze civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor. A committee formed by the Syrian government said it had documented the killing of 1,760 people.

Government forces and their allies were accused at the time of executing civilians and other abuses, and Damascus last month said it began trying suspects over the violence.

Israel, which also has a Druze population, intervened militarily during the clashes with strikes in Sweida and Damascus, saying it was defending the minority community.

Hijri, who has been a vocal critic of the new authorities, praised Israel for its intervention and said on Monday that his community was “an integral part of the State of Israel.”