Heavy rain in South Korea has killed at least 17 people with 11 others unaccounted for in the intense downpours.

Close to 170mm (6.7in) of rain hit the resort town of Gapyeong county in Gyeonggi province, 40 miles east of Seoul, early on Sunday. A landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles.

The number of casualties rose as bodies of those previously reported missing – many swept away in landslides – were recovered.

The confirmed number of deaths from the five-day deluge stood at 17, according to official data. Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.

The downpours started on Wednesday, mainly hitting the southern and central parts of the country. Northern regions were affected on Sunday morning.

A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in a landslide in Gapyeong, the Yonhap news agency reported.

Most of the deaths were in the southern county of Sancheong, which has had nearly 800mm of rain since Wednesday.

South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well prepared. But this week it suffered some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record. The downpours are likely to be followed by a heatwave, the government weather forecaster said.

In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding that killed at least 11 people.

Summary Syrian security forces take up position on roads near Sweida

Bedouin fighters withdraw, interior ministry says

US envoy says Syria at ‘critical juncture’

Sharaa receives report of inquiry into coastal killings, during which 1,500 Alawites were killed

DAMASCUS, July 20 (Reuters) – Residents reported calm in Syria’s Sweida on Sunday after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and the United States stepped up calls for an end to days of fighting.

With hundreds reported killed, the Sweida bloodshed is a major test for interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, prompting Israel to launch airstrikes against government forces last week as it declared support for the Druze. Fighting continued on Saturday despite a ceasefire call.

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Interior Minister Anas Khattab said on Sunday that internal security forces had managed to calm the situation and enforce the ceasefire, “paving the way for a prisoner exchange and the gradual return of stability throughout the governorate”.

Reuters images showed interior ministry forces near the city, blocking the road in front of members of tribes congregated there. The Interior Ministry said late on Saturday that Bedouin fighters had left the city.

Kenan Azzam, a dentist, said there was an uneasy calm but the city’s residents were struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said by phone.

Another resident, Raed Khazaal, said aid was urgently needed. “Houses are destroyed … The smell of corpses is spread throughout the national hospital,” he said in a voice message to Reuters from Sweida.

The Syrian state news agency said an aid convoy sent to the city by the government was refused entry while aid organised by the Syrian Red Cresent was let in. A source familiar with the situation said local factions in Sweida had turned back the government convoy.

The Druze are a small but influential minority present in Syria, Israel and Lebanon who follow a religion that is an offshoot of a branch of Shi’ite Islam. Some hardline Sunnis deem their beliefs heretical.

The fighting began a week ago with clashes between Bedouin and Druze fighters. Damascus sent troops to quell the fighting, but they were drawn into the violence and accused of widespread violations against the Druze.

Residents of the predominantly Druze city said friends and neighbours were shot at close range in their homes or in the streets by Syrian troops, identified by their fatigues and insignia.

Sharaa on Thursday promised to protect the rights of Druze and to hold to account those who committed violations against “our Druze people”.

He has blamed the violence on “outlaw groups”.

Item 1 of 3 Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July 20, 2025. REUTERS/Karam al-Masri [1/3] Members of Internal Security Forces stand guard at an Internal Security Forces’ checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Sweida province, Syria, July… Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab Read more

While Sharaa has won U.S. backing since meeting President Donald Trump in May, the violence has underscored the challenge he faces stitching back together a country shattered by 14 years of conflict, and added to pressures on its mosaic of sectarian and ethnic groups

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack said “brutal acts by warring factions on the ground undermine the government’s authority and disrupt any semblance of order”.

“All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance. Syria stands at a critical juncture—peace and dialogue must prevail—and prevail now,” he wrote on X.

COASTAL VIOLENCE

After Israel bombed Syrian government forces in Sweida and hit the defence ministry in Damascus last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had established a policy demanding the demilitarisation of territory near the border, stretching from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain, east of Sweida.

He said Israel would protect the Druze.

The United States however said it did not support the Israeli strikes. On Friday, an Israeli official said Israel agreed to allow Syrian forces limited access to the Sweida area for two days.

A Syrian security source told Reuters that internal security forces had taken up positions near Sweida, establishing checkpoints in western and eastern parts of the province where retreating tribal fighters had gathered.

On Sunday, Sharaa received the report of an inquiry into violence in Syria’s coastal region in March, where Reuters reported in June that Syrian forces killed 1,500 members of the Alawite minority following attacks on security forces.

The presidency said it would review the inquiry’s conclusions and ensure steps to “bring about justice” and prevent the recurrence of “such violations”. It called on the inquiry to hold a news conference on its findings – if appropriate – as soon as possible.

The Syrian Network for Human Rights said on July 18 it had documented the deaths of at least 321 people in Sweida province since July 13. The preliminary toll included civilians women, children, Bedouin fighters, members of local groups and members of the security forces, it said, and the dead included people killed in field executions by both sides.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another monitoring group, has reported a death toll of at least 940 people.

Reuters could not independently verify the tolls.

Reporting by Khalil Ashawi in Damascus, Maya Gebeily in Beirut, Suleiman al-Khalidi, Firas Makdesi and Kinda Makieh in Damascus, Jaidaa Taha and Muhammad Al Gebaly in Cairo; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Giles Elgood

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Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford is in Sweida in Syria, where she has witnessed mutilated, burned and decomposing bodies after a week of fierce fighting in the region.

Government security forces have been redeployed to enforce the first day of a US-brokered ceasefire. Tensions remain high with fears of further violent clashes. Hundreds have died.

The clashes involve a religious sect called the Druze and other rivals factions in Syria.

Here’s what you need to know about the conflict and who’s involved.

Who are the Druze?

The Druze religious sect is an offshoot of Ismailism, a branch of Shiite Islam. About half of the roughly one million Druze worldwide live in Syria, with most others in Lebanon and Israel, including the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Image: A fighter raises his gun near the city of Sweida amid a fragile ceasefire. Pic: Chris Cunningham

The Druze largely celebrated the downfall of Bashar al Assad in December after an almost 14-year civil war, but were divided over interim president Ahmad al Sharaa, a former militant linked to al Qaeda who led Islamist rebels to overthrow the Syrian autocrat.

A few months after the transition, which was mostly peaceful, government forces clashed with pro-Assad armed groups on Syria’s coast, spurring sectarian attacks that killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority to which the former president belongs. (Assad now lives in exile in Russia).

The violence left other minority groups, including the Druze in the south, and the Kurds in the northeast, increasingly mistrustful of the new Sharaa government and worried whether it would protect them.

Multiple Druze militias have existed for years, originally set up to protect their communities against ISIS fighters and drug smugglers – and they have been reluctant to lay down their arms.

Government supporters often paint Druze factions as potential separatists or tools of Israel, where they are seen as a loyal minority within and often serve in its military.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 4:10 A ‘city on fire’ – this is what Syria’s ceasefire looks like.

What are the factions?

Diana Darke, an author, Arabist and Middle East cultural writer, told Sky presenter Barbara Serra there are three main Druze factions, two of which are keen to ally with the government, but the third is controlled by anti-government leader Hikmat al Hijri.

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford says that that faction feels vulnerable and mistrusts the government, who they see as Islamic jihadis.

Why did the violence break out?

Deadly clashes broke out last Sunday in the southern province surrounding the city of Sweida between Druze militias and local Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the conflict started with the kidnapping and robbery of a Druze vegetable seller by members of a Bedouin tribe who set up a checkpoint, leading to tit-for-tat attacks and kidnappings.

Ms Darke says “horrible outbreaks of sectarian violence” are inevitable in a civil war-ravaged country with so many groups – and Sharaa doesn’t have “enough manpower” to prevent it.

Image: Tribal fighters who came to fight against Druze groups

Who else is involved?

Hijri called for intervention from Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they would help to protect the Druze.

Israel bombed key military installations and carried out airstrikes which killed hundreds of Syrian government troops, who were initially sent to restore order before effectively siding with the Bedouins.

Thousands of fighters from Arab tribal groups across Syria also flocked to the area to support the Bedouin tribe.

“There has been absolutely brutal mayhem and total anarchy inside the city with mass looting, mass pillaging, and it looks like a substantial number of deaths,” says Crawford.

She says the tribes claim they “are not against the Druze, that this is not a sectarian fight, although it looks very much like that to outsiders like myself and many others”.

They have been directing their anger towards Hijri faction, with Khalaf al Modhi, the head of one group called United Tribe, seen telling followers: “We aren’t here to fight and kill Druze… we are here to stop that criminal Hijri who asked Israel to bomb our country.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player 4:10 A ‘city on fire’ – this is what Syria’s ceasefire looks like.

Has a ceasefire been negotiated?

By Wednesday, a truce had been negotiated, allowing Druze factions to maintain security in Sweida as government forces pulled out, although fighting between the Druze and Arab factions continued.

Crawford says she’s been talking to doctors, engineers, and architects who’ve travelled from the cities of Aleppo and Damascus with guns on their backs primarily to provide humanitarian aid, but also to fight Hijri, “who they see as a criminal gang leader who now has the backing of Israel”.

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The US, another key global player, has indicated its displeasure with the Israeli strikes in Syria and with the government for withdrawing its troops from Sweida.

US special envoy to Syria Tom Barrack announced a ceasefire had been brokered between Israel and Syria on Saturday, hours before Syria’s internal security forces began redeploying to Sweida in a bid to restore order.

Syrian leader Sharaa said Sweida “remains an integral part of the Syrian state, and the Druze constitute a fundamental pillar of the Syrian national fabric,” vowing to protect all minorities in Syria.

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What could happen next?

The situation has calmed, but it could go either way, says Crawford, adding: “I wouldn’t describe the ceasefire as anything other than fragile and shaky.”

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Afraa Hashem from the Syria Campaign group said the chain of violence “is not isolated” and is growing beyond southern Syria.

“It’s spreading in northern Syria and dragging Syria towards civil war,” she told Sky presenter Barbara Serra.

An uneasy calm returned to southern Syria’s Sweida province on Sunday, after fighters withdrew following a week of violence estimated to have killed more than 1,000 people.

Local people told news agencies the area was calm after Syria’s Islamist-led government said Bedouin fighters had left the predominantly Druze city.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Sweida had been experiencing “a cautious calm since the early hours of Sunday morning”, but warned of “the deterioration of the humanitarian situation” including a severe shortage of basic medical supplies.

The SOHR reported on Sunday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in armed clashes, bombardment, extrajudicial executions and Israeli airstrikes since the violence in Sweida province began a week ago. The United Nations migration agency said the number of people displaced by the violence had risen to more than 128,000.

One local resident, dentist Kenan Azzam, told Reuters on Sunday morning the situation was one of “a tense calm” but people were still struggling with a lack of water and electricity. “The hospitals are a disaster and out of service, and there are still so many dead and wounded,” he said.

Agence France-Presse correspondents on the outskirts of Sweida city reported there were no sounds of fighting, adding humanitarian convoys were preparing to enter the Druze-majority town.

The Syrian Arab Red Crescent humanitarian organisation announced it was sending 32 trucks to Sweida loaded with food, medicine, water, fuel and other aid, after the fighting left the province with power cuts and shortages. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said the health ministry was also sending a convoy of trucks.

The violence was triggered by a dispute between a Bedouin tribesman and a member of the Druze, who are a minority in wider Syria, which prompted government forces to intervene. Druze fighters resisted their entry into the province and violence escalated, turning into days of terror for local people. In response, Israel, which has vowed to protect the Druze community, launched airstrikes on Syria’s defence ministry in Damascus and dozens of military targets in the south of the country.

View image in fullscreen Members of Syria’s Internal Security Forces stand guard at a checkpoint set up to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Sweida on Sunday. Photograph: Karam Almasri/Reuters

A ceasefire agreement between Syria and Israel had been announced by the US early on Saturday to prevent further Israeli military intervention.

Early on Sunday, the US stepped up calls for an end to the fighting. “All factions must immediately lay down their arms, cease hostilities, and abandon cycles of tribal vengeance,” the US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, wrote on X. “Syria stands at a critical juncture – peace and dialogue must prevail – and prevail now.”

A few hours earlier, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, issued a warning to Syria’s new government, whose forces have been accused by Druze factions of committing abuses, including summary executions, when they entered Sweida earlier in the week.

Rubio wrote on X: “If authorities in Damascus want to preserve any chance of achieving a unified, inclusive and peaceful Syria free of Isis [Islamic State] and of Iranian control they must help end this calamity by using their security forces to prevent Isis and any other violent jihadists from entering the area and carrying out massacres. And they must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks.”

Two members of the government forces posted sectarian hate speech against Druze, according to private social media seen by the Guardian’s correspondent in Beirut.

One posted a video of him and two other soldiers driving through Sweida laughing as he said: “We are on our way to distribute aid,” while brandishing a machete to the camera. He filmed himself inside a house in Sweida ripping a picture of Druze spiritual leaders off a wall and trampling it with his boots.

The last week has been the worst outbreak of violence since March, when 1,500 mostly Alawite citizens were massacred in revenge for a failed attack by supporters of the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad, who came from the sect.

The second round of sectarian violence has tempered international hopes for the new Syrian government, which came to power last December after the sudden fall of the Assad regime. Western governments, the US, the UK and the EU, lifted sanctions in an effort to aid Syria’s battered economy and economic reconstruction, after 13 years of civil war and repression by the Assad regime, which killed more than half a million people, leaving 90% of the population in poverty.

The EU said on Saturday it was “appalled by the hundreds of victims” of the recent violence, including that “reportedly perpetrated by several armed groups against unarmed civilians”. In a statement, the EU foreign service urged “all parties to immediately stop all acts of violence, to protect all civilians without distinction, and to take immediate steps to prevent incitement and sectarian discourse”.

The EU also called on “Israel and all other foreign actors to fully respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, on Saturday announced a ceasefire in Sweida and renewed his promise to protect Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities.

Sharaa, who was more sympathetic to the Bedouins, had tried to appeal to the Druze community while remaining critical of the militias. He later urged the Bedouins to leave the city, saying they “cannot replace the role of the state in handling the country’s affairs and restoring security”.

The interior ministry said overnight that Sweida city was “evacuated of all tribal fighters, and clashes within the city’s neighbourhoods were halted”.

A spokesperson for Syria’s tribal and clan council told Al Jazeera late on Saturday that fighters had left the city “in response to the call of the presidency and the terms of the agreement”.

Troops of the 401st Brigade operating in the Jabalya area in the northern Gaza Strip. (photo credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON UNIT)

Combat engineers from the IDF’s 401st Brigade have located and dismantled a network of tunnels under Jabalya amid the IDF’s expanding operations in Gaza.

Combat engineers of the IDF’s Armored Corps 401st Brigade have located and dismantled a network of tunnels located under Jabalya, measuring 2.7 km. in length, the IDF stated on Sunday.

As part of the IDF’s expansion of ground activities in the area, hundreds of terrorist infrastructure sites have been dismantled, countless weapons have been confiscated, and dozens of terrorists have been killed.

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Last week, three members of the 401st Brigade were killed inside their tank while operating in Jabalya. The IDF’s investigation revealed that the soldiers’ cause of death was from the turret exploding, despite their initial assessment being an anti-tank missile.

Renewal of fighting in Gaza

The IDF renewed its operations in Jabalya in mid-June for the third time since the start of the Israel-Hamas War in October 2023. Since the start of the renewed fighting, countless rocket launchers and tunnels are said to have been demolished.

Operations continue in Beit Hanun and Gaza City as well, uncovering and destroying Hamas infrastructure, coordinating their attacks with the Israel Air Force.

These attacks included the killing of Mohammed Nasser Ali Qanita, the terrorist who held Emily Damari hostage, by the IDF and Shin Bet on June 19.