The death toll from the clashes between local military groups and clans in the southern Syrian city of Al Sueida, with a Druse majority, amounted to 30 and the number of injuries to about a hundred, the Syrian Ministry of the Interior reported on Monday.
The government department warned in a statement that it is still a “preliminary” recount and explained that the clashes “exploded between local military groups and clans in the Al Maquas neighborhood, in the city of Al Sueida, in a context of tensions accumulated in previous times.”
The incidents began on Sunday, after formations in the area were recently entangled in a series of mutual kidnappings following a robbery on the road that connects Damascus to Al Sueida, inhabited by the Druse religious minority, according to local media.
“This dangerous escalation comes in the midst of the absence of the relevant official institutions, which has aggravated the chaos, the deterioration of security and the inability of the local community to contain the crisis despite the repeated calls for calm,” the Ministry of the Interior warned in its statement.
The central authorities tried to negotiate the deployment of their security forces in the area after a wave of violent clashes between them and Druzian groups took place in areas populated by the community on the outskirts of Damascus and Al Sueida at the end of last April.
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However, leaders of the Druze minority insisted that local security remain in the hands of local forces, despite the fact that the incidents two months ago left more than a hundred dead, according to estimates by the organization Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.
The Interior announced on Monday that its units, in coordination with the Ministry of Defense, will initiate an intervention in the area to resolve the conflict and stop violence, as well as to guarantee security and bring those responsible for the incidents to justice.
In this line, the head of the department, Anas Khattab, also considered in his X account that “the absence of state institutions, in particular the military and security ones, is one of the main causes of the persistent tensions in Al Sueida and its surroundings.”
Therefore, he sees the presence of the central authorities in the administrative demarcation as the “only” way to achieve a peaceful environment and a return to “normality”.
After the overthrow of former Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, the country’s new government seeks to extend its control to the entire Syrian territory and integrate other armed actors into state forces, something to which both the Drusians and the Kurds have been reluctant.
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Also at least six members of the Syrian government forces died on Monday while intervening to contain the clashes.
“Armed bandits attacked military personnel while carrying out their mission in the Al Thala area, in rural areas of Al Sueida,” a source from the Ministry of Defense told Syrian state television, Al Ijbariya, confirming the death of six of them during the incidents.
In addition, another 15 were injured and an undetermined number of them were taken hostage, according to the channel.
Colombian Senator Uribe Turbay, shows clinical improvement and begins neurological rehabilitation
Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay, seriously injured in the head in an attack on June 7, has had a clinical improvement and a process of neurological rehabilitation began, reported this Monday the Santa Fe Foundation of Bogotá, where he has been hospitalized since then.
“During the last few days the patient has shown a favorable and stable clinical response, evidenced both in the recent diagnostic images taken (magnetic resonance, tomography, Doppler, among others), and in his response to surgical and medical interventions,” says the medical report.
According to the Santa Fe Foundation, “in this context, and as part of the comprehensive care process, the neurorehabilitation protocol was initiated.”
The medical report, the first disclosed by the Santa Fe Foundation in the last eleven days, points out, however, that the 39-year-old politician continues with a “reserved” neurological prognosis.
“Miguel Uribe Turbay requires continuing his management in the Intensive Care Unit, with mechanical ventilatory support and under sedation, as well as with hemodynamic and neurological monitoring for the early detection of any change,” the statement adds.
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Uribe Turbay, a member of the right-wing Democratic Center party, was shot twice in the head and one in the left leg when he was leading a rally in a park in the Bogota neighborhood of Modelia, an attack that has revived among Colombians the ghost of political violence that marked the 1990 elections in which three presidential candidates were killed.
Due to the severity of the injuries suffered, the politician, one of the candidates of the Democratic Center for the 2026 presidential elections, has undergone several surgeries in Santa Fe.
The authorities, for their part, have made some progress in the investigation of the attack, for which five people have been arrested, including the hit man who shot him, a 15-year-old boy who was found with a Glock pistol used in the attack.
The other four detainees have been accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of participating in the preparation and cover-up of the attack, and among them is Elder José Arteaga Hernández, alias ‘el Costeño’, considered by the authorities as a key piece for being the alleged organizer of the attempted murder.
Zelenski proposes the Minister of Economy, Sviridenko, as the new prime minister
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed on Monday the current Minister of Economy, Yulia Sviridenko, as the new prime minister to replace the current head of government, Denis Shmigal.
“I have proposed that Yulia Sviridenko lead the Government of Ukraine and significantly renew her work. I look forward to the presentation of the new Government action plan in the near future,” Zelenski wrote in X after meeting with Sviridenko.
The Ukrainian president spoke with the current Minister of Economy about “concrete measures to double Ukraine’s economic potential, to expand support programs for Ukrainians and to increase domestic weapons production.”
Zelenski and Sviridenko also reviewed the economic agreements signed by Ukraine at the international conference for the reconstruction of the country held in Rome on Thursday and last Friday.
Several Ukrainian media had advanced weeks ago that Sviridenko would soon replace Denis Shmigal as prime minister. At the head of the Economy portfolio, Sviridenko, 39, has been one of the most visible and active figures in the Government in recent months.
Zelenski talks to Kellogg in Kiev about sanctions against Russia and the sale of weapons to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Monday with the special representative for Ukraine of the White House, retired General Keith Kellogg, about the possibility of the US approving new sanctions against Russia and sending new weapons to Ukrainians that would be paid for with European money.
“We have talked about the road to peace and what we can do together from a practical point of view so that it is closer. This includes strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, joint production and acquisition of defensive weapons in collaboration with Europe,” Zelenski wrote in X about the content of the meeting.
The Ukrainian president also mentioned “sanctions against Russia and those who help it” among the actions with which the United States can contribute to ending the war.
“We have hope in the leadership of the United States, because it is clear that Moscow will never stop if its ambitions, which are not reasonable, are not put to a hold of force,” Zelenski also wrote, who thanked Kellogg for visiting Ukraine and also showed his appreciation for the “important signs of support and positive decisions for both countries” that the US president has made public in recent days.
Kellogg has arrived in Kiev this Monday to spend this week in Ukraine and meet with local leaders. His visit comes after Trump has confirmed that he will send Patriot missile anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine for which several European countries will pay.
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Trump has also recently been very critical of the attitude of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he reproaches for not intending to take down his arms despite the pro-peace messages that the Kremlin leader has been launching since the US began its efforts to mediate a negotiated solution to the conflict.
