DAMASCUS (Reuters) — The Syrian government and Druze factions controlling the southern city of Sweida carried out their first prisoner exchange on Thursday since deadly sectarian clashes last summer, the Syrian government’s Sweida media office said.

Hundreds were killed in days of bloodshed in July before a comprehensive ceasefire halted the fighting. Sweida province, predominantly populated by the Druze community — a distant offshoot of Islam — remains outside government control.

Syria has been plagued by bouts of sectarian strife since the sudden fall of president Bashar al-Assad and his police state in December 2024 after 14 years of civil war.

Thursday’s swap involved Damascus releasing 61 prisoners from the Druze factions detained in Adra Central Prison, near the capital, in return for the Druze National Guard Forces freeing 25 Syrian government personnel, the media office said.

The operation was carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Stephen Sakalian, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, said the organization hoped it would pave the way toward possible further releases and dialogue on humanitarian concerns, including the fate of people missing since last July’s violence.

A Syrian government and a Druze source told Reuters that the swap was successful and followed........

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