It took years for Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri to move from outward support for the Assad regime to cautious criticism and finally open opposition. With the new authorities in Damascus, he is taking an adversarial stance from the start.
As Tel Aviv projects itself as the protector of Syria’s Druze, hate speech against the community has propagated, despite the stance of many Druze activists against Israel.
Factions in Syria’s southern Suwayda province are split on whether to merge with Damascus. One side—aligned with Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri—is opposed, while the other—including the powerful Men of Dignity—calls for opening to Damascus and joining its institutions.
Weapons have spread across Suwayda, many in the hands of civilians who took them from the former regime’s military and security sites when the army fled the Druze-majority southern province one day before Assad fell.
Since the Assad regime fell, repeated local and international calls for the new government in Damascus to provide guarantees for Syria’s ethnic and religious minorities have sparked controversy and fueled hate speech.
With Assad gone, Suwayda’s protest movement endures, turning a watchful eye towards the new government in Damascus and planning for the future.
One year into Suwayda’s anti-regime uprising, protesters remain committed to their political demands, none of which have been achieved so far. But as the number of people coming out to demonstrate declines, activists wonder about its future.
The assassination of Murhij al-Jarmani, the commander of a local faction in Suwayda and a strong supporter of the ongoing protests, could be a turning point for the Druze-majority province’s nearly year-long uprising. The Assad regime is accused of orchestrating the killing.
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.
Suwayda’s protest movement—marked by a prominent role for women and an insistence on nonviolence—is holding strong nearly 10 months in, despite Damascus deploying military reinforcements and appointing a man accused of war crimes as governor of the southern province.
![Syrians protest Israeli interference in Syria at a demonstration in Druze-majority Suwayda city. One demonstrator holds a sign reading “Netanyahu, you supporter of the [Assad] barrel bomb regime, leave the minorities alone,” 25/2/2025 (Suwayda 24)](https://syriadirect.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/481074920_1063617625808047_4429235549923929777_n.jpg)
