Can Suwayda’s factions enforce security and stop the spread of weapons?

PARIS — The head of the Men of Dignity, the strongest faction in Syria’s Druze-majority Suwayda province, issued a directive this week stressing the importance of ending armed displays and enforcing security and stability amid the proliferation of weapons in the southern province since the fall of the Assad regime.

To combat the spread, the directive emphasized that carrying weapons would be limited to those performing official duties and protecting institutions. The move followed civilian calls for action to be taken to control the spread of weapons in Suwayda. It also comes as the Damascus government’s security forces conduct operations across the country to pursue wanted individuals and limit weapons to the state. 

On February 1, the caretaker government’s General Security Service carried out an operation in the Khirbet al-Ward—a Reef Dimashq village that sits on the Suwayda-Damascus highway— targeting a number of wanted individuals.

Days earlier, the police and criminal security service in Suwayda—both of which fall under the interior ministry of the caretaker government appointed by Syria’s President Ahmad al-Sharaa—were reactivated. Official security services in Suwayda had been disrupted since the Assad regime fell on December 8, 2024. 

The Men of Dignity directive orders the end of “armed displays by Men of Dignity personnel among civilians, and does not mean surrendering weapons,” Samer Salloum, a member of the executive committee of Suwayda’s longstanding protest movement, said. The order “does not go far enough, and does not meet people’s aspirations,” he added. “It is not binding for the other factions.”

Suwayda has seen a marked increase in insecurity, fueled in part by the proliferation of weapons in the hands of civilians who took them from the former regime’s barracks and security headquarters when the army fled one day before Assad fell. Attacks and shootings in the province have left dozens of people dead and injured. 

Most recently, Hikmat Hamza, a young man from Suwayda, was shot and injured on February 1 as he tried to stop loggers from felling trees in the area of the Baath Vanguards camp north of Rasas, a town south of Suwayda city. A week earlier, 54-year-old Mazen al-Shoufi was killed on January 24 when a grenade he was believed to be carrying exploded, local media reported. 

Weapons a ‘main concern’

“The spread of weapons among Suwayda residents, combined with the absence of judicial police and law enforcement, has worsened insecurity,” local journalist Shadi al-Dbeisi said. “Weapons have the first and final say, and there is no deterrent for those who carry them,” he told Syria Direct. “We see murders and armed threats on a daily basis.” 

There is “real fear and anxiety” among Suwayda residents, al-Dbeisi added, especially since “most of the weapons circulating are not subject to controls, but to the whims of those who carry them.”  

Saad Abu Hassoun, a lawyer in Suwayda, added that “the swift and sudden fall of the regime led to large quantities of weapons falling into the hands of civilians.” As a result, “the province slipped into greater chaos, and the severity of crimes and violations is greater than it was,” he said. 

When the revolution broke out in 2011, the former regime worked “with a systematic security mentality to drive civilians to carry weapons, arming them in organizations and militias such as the al-Bustan Association [a charitable network run by Bashar al-Assad’s cousin Rami Makhlouf, which had a military wing], the National Defense [Forces] and others,” Abu Hassoun said. Increasing the number of weapons in civilian hands aimed to “incite chaos and drive up the crime rate, deceiving society into believing the revolution was destroying morals and security,” he added. These groups “stirred up sectarian strife, especially in minority areas.” 

In 2011, the Assad regime was accused of contributing to the militarization of Syria’s revolution by suppressing protesters and leaving individual weapons in the streets to be used by some demonstrators.

“As a result of the political and ideological desertification in society, the regime was able to deceive it, and the process of taking up arms accelerated [after it fell]. Insecurity increased and organized crime appeared,” Abu Hassoun said. “The regime’s strategy succeeded again.” 

On January 22, the Suwayda Teachers’ Union held a protest in front of the Education Directorate, condemning armed attacks on the Computer Technology Institute and al-Hoya School. The union noted the incidents included the kidnapping of teachers on campus, and called them a “dangerous violation of the law and the sanctity of educational institutions.” 

Suwayda teachers’ call for protection “is what most of the province’s residents are calling for, and it is currently their main concern,” Abu Hassoun said. “The spread of weapons affects the ethics and morals of society.” 

Suwayda stands apart

Suwayda has held a unique status since the 2011 revolution began. While the province never fell out of the former regime’s control, it was also never fully under its rule. Its local factions’ goals and ambitions differed from those in other parts of the country, and they had a distinct relationship with Damascus and its security apparatus. 

Today, Suwayda’s factions stand at a distance from the Damascus government, now led by al-Sharaa. On December 31, factions blocked a column of General Security Service forces who were heading to the police headquarters in Suwayda. Local military and religious actors in the province attributed the incident to a lack of coordination, calling it an attempt to enter “stealthily” under cover of darkness.

Meeting with officials from Damascus at the time, local political, religious and social actors demanded the province’s security be locally managed, with the “judicial police reactivated and a police commander appointed from Suwayda,” conditions that were agreed to, local news network Suwayda 24 reported.

Suwayda factions boycotted last week’s “Victory Conference” in Damascus, during which al-Sharaa met with faction commanders and declared himself president for the transitional period. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), based in northeastern Syria, were similarly absent. Ahmad al-Awda, a former opposition commander and head of Daraa’s 8th Brigade, also did not attend, though he sent a representative in his place. 

While Suwayda residents decry insecurity, a spokesperson for one local faction, the Supreme Forces based in the province’s south, denied “any aggression or incidents resulting from the use of weapons in our sector, from the liberation until now.” The faction has around 1,000 fighters deployed and dealing with local security in and around the town of Salkhad. 

The faction has worked to “collect, organize and inventory weapons, placing them in a headquarters under tight security,” the spokesperson added. It also “patrols in sensitive areas to protect public and private property,” he said. 

Holding on to weapons

Factions that attended the January 30 conference in Damascus agreed to dissolve themselves and form the nucleus of a new Syrian army. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the faction al-Sharaa commanded under his nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, was among them. 

None of Suwayda’s factions have dissolved. On the contrary, the province saw the birth of two new military bodies in recent weeks. On January 25, members of Suwayda’s clans put out a video statement announcing the formation of a new military body. On January 7, three local factions—the Sheikh al-Karama Forces, the Supreme Forces and the Anti-Terrorism Forces—united under a single formation.

Suwayda, for now, is sticking to its guns. Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of Suwayda’s Druze and a leading figure in the province, stated on multiple occasions that “surrendering weapons is definitively rejected until a state is formed and a constitution written.” Holding on to Suwayda’s weapons is a way to “guarantee our rights,” he said. 

“Sheikh al-Hijri’s statements do not represent everyone in Suwayda, but they represent most of the factions, some of which have been involved in bloodshed, kidnapping and drug trafficking,” Salloum said. “They do not want the state to impose its control, [and want] the state of chaos to continue so they are not held accountable.” 

“The factions say we are managing our affairs ourselves, but there are many security problems and deaths on a daily basis that they and the Sheikh have not been able to solve,” Salloum added. “Sheikh al-Hijri sees these factions’ presence, despite their mistakes, as safer than HTS entering.” 

Over the past years, reliance on weapons became more prominent in Suwayda, once “factions came under families or regions, each family or village forming a military faction of its own,” lawyer Abu Hassoun said. Having these factions was positive “at one time, because of the state’s absence,” but today “they are causing a crisis because they  lack an organizational mindset for managing military and security matters, such as that of interior security, the defense ministry and the state.” 

“Some factions, by keeping their weapons and stirring up chaos, aim to achieve gains and protect demolition, kidnapping and drug trafficking activities,” the lawyer contended. Some factions have become “a refuge for criminals and thugs fleeing accountability and justice,” he said, urging factions to “be aware of this, and screen bad individuals.” 

Factions in Suwayda “committed violations—like the rest of Syria’s factions in other provinces—they are not capable of controlling security, since they include elements and commanders themselves implicated in violations,” journalist al-Dbeis said. “We need an internal security force and judicial police to take on the security situation so there is no place for perpetrators.” 

“People will not relinquish their weapons until they feel safe, because they are protecting themselves with them,” Abu Hassoun said. Any step to disarm must come after “a trust-building process between citizens and the state,” which requires a role for “military, religious and political leadership in Suwayda,” he added. “Controlling weapons is not only the task of the state—the community must interact and help.” 

Building trust remains challenging. “People in Suwayda still have concerns about HTS,” the lawyer explained. “The new administration should work to win the trust of Syrians, not only in Suwayda, to facilitate its work. Everyone agrees that these weapons should be in the hands of the state, but only after there is trust in it.” 

This report was originally published in Arabic and translated into English by Mateo Nelson.