Suwayda

26 06, 2024
  • Members of a local faction in Syria’s southern Suwayda province stand in the back of a military vehicle at the northern entrance of Suwayda city after a night of clashes with regime forces, 23/6/2024 (Karam Mansour/Syria Direct)

Suwayda sidesteps a ‘spiral of violence’ following clashes

By Karam Mansour|2024-07-16T15:06:42+02:00June 26, 2024|

A new security checkpoint in Suwayda city sparked angry protests and armed clashes between local factions and regime forces before an agreement negotiated by local civil and religious leadership averted further escalation. The incident underscores the delicate balance of keeping the peace in the southern province.

29 03, 2024
  • The Men of Dignity movement, the largest local faction in Suwayda, destroys a seized shipment of narcotics that was set to be smuggled from the southern Syrian province into Jordan, 9/2/2024 (Suwayda 24)

Communities in southern Syria take on the drug trade

By Walid Al Nofal|2024-03-29T18:27:02+01:00March 29, 2024|

Communities and local armed groups in Syria’s southern Suwayda and Daraa provinces are taking the fight against drug traffickers and smugglers into their own hands. With Damascus and Hezbollah profiting from the trade, they face an uphill battle.

26 03, 2024
  • A truck targeted by the Jordanian Armed Forces while attempting to cross into Jordan from Syria carrying a load of drugs, 24/3/2021 (Jordanian Armed Forces)

How Suwayda became a drug-smuggling hub

By Karam Mansour|2024-05-24T15:12:13+02:00March 26, 2024|

In Syria’s southern Suwayda province, suspected Jordanian airstrikes hunt drug traffickers and kill civilians. Regime-linked gangs operate with impunity and smugglers ferry drugs over the border. Local armed groups fight back. How did we get here?

10 10, 2023
  • Torture survivors, activists and family members of some of Syria’s thousands of forcibly disappeared people rallied outside the Peace Palace in The Hague on Tuesday morning as the International Court of Justice heard oral arguments by Canada and the Netherlands in a landmark case against Syria for state-sponsored torture, 10/10/2023 (Caesar Families Association/Yasmin Mashaan)

Damascus absent as landmark torture case begins at World Court

By Mateo Nelson|2023-10-10T23:13:15+02:00October 10, 2023|

A landmark torture case brought against Syria by Canada and the Netherlands began at the UN’s highest court on Tuesday—with Damascus absent. While it is not a criminal case, torture survivors and family members of Syria’s disappeared say it marks another milestone in their long, slow fight for accountability.

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