Sectarian clashes in Syria on the rise, fears of a bloodbath

More than 30 people were killed and 100 injured in armed clashes in Syria’s predominantly Druze city of Sweida, the Syrian interior ministry said early on Monday, in the latest bout of sectarian clashes.

The violence erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida, witnesses said.

This is the first time sectarian fighting has erupted inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.