Headlines
Hospitals in Syria's Sweida struggling after sectarian clashes, WHO says
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on July 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
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Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on July 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Sweida hospitals are overwhelmed due to sectarian violence, with inadequate resources. WHO reports severe strain and challenges in aid delivery.
By Olivia Le Poidevin
GENEVA (Reuters) -The main hospital in the southern Syrian city of Sweida is overwhelmed with trauma patients and working without adequate power or water after the local Druze minority clashed almost two weeks ago with Bedouin and government forces.
"Inside of Sweida, it's a grim picture, with the health facilities under immense strain," the World Health Organization's Christina Bethke told reporters in Geneva via video link from Damascus.
"Electricity and water are cut off, and essential medicine supplies are running out."
Many medical staff cannot reach their workplace safely, and the main hospital's morgue was full at one point this week as it dealt with a surge of trauma cases.
At least 903 people were killed in the sectarian bloodshed, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, after clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes spilled into ferocious fighting between the Druze and government forces sent to quell the unrest.
The Network's head, Fadel Abdulghany, has said the toll is not final, and that his group documented field executions by Syrian troops, Bedouin tribal fighters and Druze factions.
Though the WHO has managed to deliver two convoys of aid in the last week, access remains difficult because tensions remain between the groups controlling various parts of Sweida governorate, it said.
More than 145,000 people have been displaced by the recent fighting, the WHO said, with many sheltering in makeshift reception centres in Daraa and Damascus.
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; editing by Kirsti Knolle and Kevin Liffey)
The main hospital in Sweida is overwhelmed with trauma patients and lacks adequate power and water. Medical staff face difficulties reaching their workplaces safely.
At least 903 people have been killed due to the sectarian violence, and more than 145,000 people have been displaced from their homes.
The World Health Organization has managed to deliver two convoys of aid, but access remains difficult due to ongoing tensions between the controlling groups in Sweida.
Essential medicine supplies are running out, and many medical staff cannot safely reach their workplaces, exacerbating the healthcare crisis.
The clashes involve the local Druze minority and Bedouin tribes, leading to severe violence and a humanitarian crisis in the region.
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