Suwayda burns again: Syrian forces target Druze and Sunni Bedouins alike

July 14, 2025 by News Desk

The Syrian government has launched a sweeping military intervention in the southern province of Suwayda, targeting areas home to both Druze and Sunni Bedouin communities. The operation began in the early hours of July 14 and followed several days of violent clashes between local Druze fighters and armed Bedouin tribesmen. The military deployment, which the government describes as a security operation, has resulted in dozens of deaths and has been condemned by local leaders as a brutal crackdown.

According to the Syrian Interior Ministry, the military was deployed “to resolve the conflict, stop clashes, impose security, prosecute those responsible for the events, and refer them to the competent judiciary.” Interior Minister Anas Khattab stated, “There is no solution to this except imposing security measures and activating the role of institutions to ensure civil peace and the return of life to its normal state in all its details.” Syrian state television also broadcasted statements from the Ministry emphasizing that the army’s role was “to prevent any civilian casualties” and to protect the area from further instability.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the clashes initially erupted between armed factions from the Druze religious minority and Sunni Bedouin clans, leading to 37 fatalities, 10 were Bedouins.

Despite the government’s assurances, residents of Suwayda paint a starkly different picture as Syrian forces under President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s command entered the region. Local witnesses and activists reported heavy shelling in both Druze and Bedouin villages, sniper fire directed at civilians, and widespread arbitrary arrests. These communities, who have long resisted both ISIS and HTS, as well as successive Assad-led regimes, now find themselves under attack from the very state that claims to protect them.

According to Associated Press, the Syrian forces engaged in firefights with both armed Druze militias and Bedouin groups during deployment.

Local Druze leadership, including the respected religious authority Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, has strongly condemned the Syrian army’s presence. In a public address, he warned that “the regime bears full responsibility for the blood that has been shed,” accusing it of sending in intelligence forces and heavy weapons “under the pretext of restoring order,” while in reality fueling the conflict. “They came to protect us, but they are the ones killing our sons,” a Druze elder told local media.

The leadership called for international observers and humanitarian agencies to intervene and prevent further bloodshed.

The situation has revived painful memories for many in Suwayda. In July 2018, ISIS fighters carried out one of the most horrific massacres in the region’s history, killing more than 250 people in coordinated attacks on the city and surrounding villages. Dozens of women and children were kidnapped. Despite pleas for help, the Syrian army failed to respond in time, and residents believe the regime deliberately left the area exposed. Many in Suwayda accused the former regime of punishing the province for refusing to participate in conscription and for maintaining local autonomy.

While the Druze community’s resistance is well documented, lesser known is the suffering and quiet resistance of the Sunni Bedouin tribes living on the province’s eastern and southern margins. During ISIS’s rise between 2015 and 2018, several Bedouin clans in villages like Khalkhala and Al-Rashida refused to cooperate with ISIS and paid a heavy price.

In retaliation, ISIS and Al Sharaa led HTS fighters abducted tribal leaders, raided livestock encampments, and executed those seen as sympathetic to local anti-ISIS militias. Several Bedouin men were killed for resisting the group. These acts of resistance went largely undocumented, but they remain etched in the memories of the survivors.

Today, those same communities are under fire from Damascus. In 2022, a regime militia stormed a Bedouin village in eastern Suwayda, killing seven men on accusations of smuggling. Since then, Bedouin villagers have complained of arbitrary arrests, aerial surveillance, and economic blockades. Now, with the full weight of the Syrian army bearing down on both Bedouin and Druze areas, a shared sense of betrayal and grief is taking root.

“This is not just a sectarian clash,” a local youth activist in Suwayda city was quoted as saying by local media. “This is a province that stood up to the old government, fought off ISIS and HTS, and was ignored for years. Now they return as the new government; not to support us, but to take revenge and crush us.”