Only a day after a ceasefire was announced in the southern Syria province of Sweida, armed groups began fighting again late on Thursday and continuing into Friday. The recent conflict reveals a multi-layered tapestry of animosities, some of them centuries old, which frustrate any attempt to restore peace that relies on pulling a single thread.

International negotiators may have thought they reached a solution on Wednesday when the U.S., Turkey, and Arab countries got the new Syrian regime to agree to ceasefire terms with the Druze minority concentrated in Sweida. The Syrian military withdrew, leaving the Druze to maintain internal security. This settlement also satisfied Israel, which had intervened with airstrikes to protect the Druze from the Syrian army.

But the settlement did not resolve the reason why fighting had broken out in the first place. The conflict began earlier this week with escalating retaliations between Sunni Bedouin tribes and the Druze, a minority Islamic cult. The groups have intermittently clashed since Syria’s civil war began, and this week they once again traded kidnappings and attacks.

The Syrian government stepped in to restore peace, but security forces and government-allied militias largely clashed with the Druze. A London-based human rights monitor estimates nearly 600 deaths among all parties across the week’s fighting, including at least 86 civilians killed in “field executions,” mostly by government forces. The Druze have also killed several Bedouin civilians in revenge attacks.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded forcefully to the Syrian government’s intervention, striking 160 targets in Syria, including the army headquarters in Damascus. In addition to protecting the Druze minority, Israel has also insisted that the Syrian military stay out of the Sweida province, which borders areas controlled by Israel.

Israel’s involvement came as a shock to regional powers. The Trump administration had hoped to draw the new Syrian regime into the Abraham Accords, which would involve normalizing relations with Israel. Turkey is heavily invested in the Syrian regime and does not want to see it toppled by Israel. Other Arab powers object to any Israeli military action against other Arab nations. As a result, they quickly stepped in to negotiate a ceasefire.

The Syrian regime, which is still new, weak, and eager to win the approval of potential foreign allies, was willing to withdraw its forces, which removed the occasion for Israeli airstrikes. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa even promised to protect the Druze.

But that ceasefire did not solve the problems in Sweida. Druze militias quickly resumed revenge attacks against Bedouins. A Bedouin commander declared that the ceasefire only applied to government forces and announced a new Bedouin offensive, which aims to free prisoners taken by the Druze.

Meanwhile, both sides are building up their forces. Earlier this week, hundreds of Israeli Druze had forced their way through a border crossing into Syria, intending to support their co-religionists. More Bedouins arrived on Friday from elsewhere in Syria to join the fight. “We will not return to our homes until we crush [Druze Sheikh Hikmat] Al-Hijri and his ilk,” one armed Bedouin declared.

In response to the resumption of violence, Israel softened its position. “In light of the ongoing instability in southwest Syria, Israel has agreed to allow limited entry of the [Syrian] internal security forces into Sweida district for the next 48 hours,” an unnamed official announced.

But the Syrian regime is not enthusiastic about sending their troops back into Sweida. Noureddin al-Baba, a spokesman for the interior ministry, denied a news report that security forces were planning to redeploy to the south. Perhaps, after once tasting Israeli air power, the Syrian regime doesn’t wish to taste it again. Perhaps they see nothing to gain by risking their own fragile army in attempting to restore peace between semi-autonomous groups, and they now calculate that it may be better to let them fight amongst themselves.

With so many different factions, at so many different levels, it’s difficult to see how the fighting will end. Negotiating a ceasefire among both the state and non-state parties would be much more complex, and it would be a difficult task to complete in the face of ongoing fighting.

Perhaps more importantly for the Trump administration and regional security, it’s difficult to see how foreign mediators can build trust between the Syrian regime and Israel. Israel distrusts the Syrian regime for its jihadist connections, while the Syrian government now has even more reason to distrust Israel, after Israel’s airstrikes. Al- Sharaa complained Thursday that Israel had “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime.”

If the Trump administration wants these two suspicious parties to normalize relations and settle down peaceably beside one another, it needs to find a powerful incentive. But it may need to stop the lower-level open conflict first.