In Suweida, a city in southern Syria, attacks targeting the Druze population have intensified. Acting under orders and with the permission of Ahmed al-Sharaa (Al-Jolani), the President of Syria’s Transitional Government, radical jihadist groups affiliated with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and the Syrian Ministry of Defense, along with armed mercenaries operating under the name of “Bedouin tribes”, launched an assault on the city on 13 July. After the jihadist groups entered the city center, hundreds of civilians were massacred.
After the massacre in the city, the Suweida Military Council and the Druze population launched a determined resistance against the armed mercenaries. At the same time, Israel carried out airstrikes targeting military positions affiliated with the Syrian Ministry of Defense. As a result of these air operations and the local resistance, the armed mercenaries aligned with the Syrian Ministry of Defense were forced to retreat from the city.
Once the city center of Suweida was cleared of these groups, footage captured by a Druze filmmaker revealed the full extent of the destruction. The testimonies in the video laid bare both the scale of the devastation and the gravity of the threat facing the Druze community.
In the footage recorded on the afternoon of 18 July, the Druze director narrates: “The violations that took place… the attacks from behind on the marketplace… The takfiris and terrorist groups arrived and took up positions in the bazaar. The shops… the destruction… the fire…”
The filmmaker added: “The General Security Forces, which claim to be a governing power and a protector of the people, left behind massive destruction. This devastation along the main axis also impacted people’s livelihoods. There were many victims, martyrs, and lost young lives here. The shops they set on fire, Xeraid, El Alem, the markets they destroyed and burned, were soaked in the blood of our martyrs. Their bodies were everywhere.”
At the time this report was being prepared, Salafi organizations such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Syrian National Army (SNA), and Al-Qaeda, along with Arab and Bedouin tribes, were being armed and deployed to Suweida from various parts of Syria.
Meanwhile, heavy clashes were reported between fighters affiliated with the Suweida Military Council and radical groups in villages surrounding the city. It was noted that the mercenaries were carrying out simultaneous, large-scale attacks and preparing intensively to breach the city.
Source: ANF News
