Displaced Bedouin families in limbo as Syrian government and Druze authorities remain at odds

ABTAA, Syria — The classrooms at a school building in Abtaa, in Syria’s southern province of Daraa, have turned into living quarters housing three or four families each. Because of the lack of privacy and close quarters, the woman and children sleep inside, with the men bedding down outside in the courtyard.

The Bedouin families evacuated their villages during sectarian fighting more than a month ago in neighboring Sweida province. Since then, the central government in Damascus has been in a standoff with local Druze authorities in Sweida, while the displaced have been left in a state of limbo.

Munira al-Hamad, a 56-year-old from the village of al-Kafr in the Sweida countryside, is staying with her family in the school, which is set to reopen this month. If that happens, she doesn’t know