Gunmen kill two on coach in Syria's Druze-majority Suweida province

Gunmen killed at least two people when they opened fire on a coach along the road between Damascus and Druze-majority Suweida in southern Syria on Tuesday, state media reported, months after deadly sectarian clashes in the area.

State news agency SANA reported that "a passenger coach... on the Damascus-Suweida road was fired upon by unidentified gunmen, killing two people and wounding others".

Local outlet Sweida 24 identified the victims as a woman and a young man.

The outlet said that the coach was on its way back from Damascus, "within the area where General Security checkpoints are deployed".

Suweida province witnessed a week of bloodshed that began on 13 July with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces, armed groups from other parts of Syria and Israeli intervention.

Syrian authorities said their forces acted to stop the clashes, but witnesses, Druze factions and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have accused them of siding with the Bedouin and committing abuses against the Druze, including summary executions.

Syrian security forces have been deployed in and around Suweida province since a ceasefire ended the clashes, while Druze factions remained in control of the city of the same name.

All the coach passengers were reportedly from the Druze community.

The Suweida clashes killed hundreds of people, amid reports of sectarian attacks and summary executions by government forces. Estimates of the death toll range from 814 to 1,653.

Three Druze civilians were also killed by gunmen last week in the northwestern province of Idlib, The New Arab's sister site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported.

In September, the Syrian government announced a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm and to hold "those who attacked civilians" accountable, but the situation remains unstable.

In an interview with Sky News Arabia on Monday, prominent Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri, who is strongly opposed to Damascus and is believed to have ties to Israel, reiterated his call for "full independence" of Suweida province.