Syria | Situation in southern Syria reportedly under control

After days of bloody unrest in Syria between Druze militias and Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes, the situation in the city of Suweida is reportedly under control for the time being. The Syrian state news agency Sana reported on Telegram, citing the Interior Ministry, that the city had been cleared of all tribal fighters and that clashes in the neighborhoods had ended. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported cautious calm on X.

With the recent escalation of violence in southern Syria, there have also been new allegations of brutal abuse and killings. During the week of fighting, around 200 people were "executed on the spot," according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Activists reported how residents of Al-Suweida province were beheaded and their homes set on fire. Photos and videos of burned and mutilated corpses are circulating, depicting humiliation for the public, which are then shared like trophies on social media.

After days of bloody unrest between Druze militias and Sunni Muslim Bedouin tribes, the situation in the town of Al-Suweida was under control for the time being on Sunday. The Syrian Interior Ministry announced that the predominantly Druze town had been cleared of tribal fighters and that the clashes had ended. However, according to the Syrian Observatory, fighting continued in some villages. According to the Observatory, the death toll has risen to over 1,000. The Druze are a minority whose religion evolved from Shiite Islam.

Syria has repeatedly been the scene of killings and violence in its most brutal forms: during the decades-long rule of the Assad family , which carried out mass killings and torture, but also by extremist groups such as the terrorist group Islamic State (IS) or local militias. Many of the new accusations are directed against the mostly Sunni troops of the new government of President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and its Bedouin allies. But there are also serious allegations against the Druze minority , whose stronghold of Al-Suweida has been the subject of fighting for days.

"These atrocities are no different from those against the Alawites ," the head of the observatory, Rami Abdul Rahman, told dpa. He was referring to the violence on the Syrian coast in March, in which Alawites – a religious minority with roots in Shiite Islam – were primarily targeted for massacres. "The only difference is that the Druze are armed differently than the Alawites," said Abdul Rahman. With his network of informants in Syria, he counted around 1,600 civilians killed on the coast in March.

"How did we descend into such brutal violence and humiliation?" writes Syrian-born journalist Maher Akraa, who lives in Switzerland and researches online hate speech. "Why this barbaric killing, mutilation, and insult to our humanity?" The massacres against Druze and Bedouin families are "truly horrifying."

A video allegedly from Al-Suweida shows celebrating fighters driving around a few corpses they had placed on the hoods of their SUVs. In another video, three men are forced to jump from the balcony of an apartment building and are shot dead. The origin of the videos cannot be independently verified. However, Syrian human rights activists are distributing them, claiming they are credible.

The UN Human Rights Office in Geneva speaks of credible reports of human rights violations. "These include summary executions and arbitrary killings, abductions, destruction of private property, and looting of homes," the office said.

After the massacres of Alawites in the spring, al-Sharaa's government promised an investigation and established a committee for this purpose. Since then, however, little has been done. Al-Sharaa himself has received a final report on the matter, but the results have so far been kept secret. Critics accuse his government of allowing perpetrators to go unpunished and of the judiciary operating largely covertly.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Volker Türk, has also called for "independent, swift, and transparent investigations into all violations" in the violence in Al-Suweida. This must also prevent the repetition of such violence: "Revenge and retaliation are not the answer." dpa/nd