The Syrian army began to withdraw from Suwayda city on Wednesday night local time, following two days of clashes with local Druze forces that killed and injured hundreds and provided an opening for expanded Israeli intervention.
University students who returned to Druze-majority Suwayda during recent sectarian tensions on their campuses were stopped by a local armed group as they tried to go back to school last week. Some fear education is being politicized amid tensions with Damascus.
After a short-lived period of calm, clashes returned to Suwayda province on Tuesday, raising questions about the durability of a recent security agreement and the risk of a new wave of violence in southern Syria.
This week’s violence in Druze-majority Jaramana and Sahnaya reignited longstanding questions surrounding civil peace and the impact of sectarian violence on social cohesion in Syria.
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.
![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)
