Dignitaries and leading sheikhs in the predominantly Druze governorate of As-Suwayda in southern Syria have reportedly rejected a proposal to support the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, in the upcoming presidential elections.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted a source, identified as a member of Al-Khas family, who said that Sheikh Nawaf Trad Al-Melhem, recently held a meeting with dignitaries and sheikhs from As-Suwayda governorate, including Sheikh Al-Aql Yusef Al-Jarbu`, representatives of leading families and social figures.

Aerial bombardment of rural areas of As-Suwayda and Deir Ezzor in Syria on Tuesday evening reportedly killed and wounded several Assad regime militiamen.

The regime's ‘SANA’ agency claimed that regime air defenses responded to the planes which carried out the bombing of the militias’ bases.

SANA claimed that the bombardment targeted the Kabbagb area, west of Deir Ezzor and the Al-Sukhna area, in addition to sites near the city of Sallakh, in the south of As-Suwayda.

The local Suwayda 24 network has published an investigation, including detailed information and documents, revealing operations to recruit dozens of young Syrians from the Suwayda governorate, who are being conscripted in order to be transferred to Libya where they’re used as mercenaries alongside Haftar’s militias.

The number of civilians detained by the regime's security branches in Suwayda, southern Syria increased on Monday (June 15), with more being detained over their participation in popular demonstrations calling for the fall of the Assad regime.

According to a report from the website Suwayda 24, "The Assad regime arrested eight people today, who are Salman Faraj, Abdul Rahman Brik, Rowad Sadiq, Bashar Tarabiya, Hussam Mazhar, Safwan Obaid, Nasser Azzam,a' and Ihsan Muhammad."