Sweida in flames: Syria's Druze city torn apart by urban warfare

Witnesses tell of terrifying shelling and humiliating attacks on Druze minority

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  A member of a government-aligned security force fires a weapon amid clashes in Syria's southern city of Sweida. AFP

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  Residents flee their homes amid the clashes in Sweida. AFP

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  Clashes raged in the southern city after a ceasefire between government forces and Druze armed groups collapsed. AFP

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  Government forces take aim from a rooftop position. AFP

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  Troops patrol an area as residents flee their homes amid clashes. AFP

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  Heavily armed troops enter densely populated neighbourhoods. AFP

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  Women rush on a street as they flee their homes amid the clashes. AFP

What began as deadly clashes between Druze militiamen and Bedouin tribes in southern Syria has intensified into a violent urban assault, leaving scores dead and a historic city gripped by fear, violence and displacement.

At dawn on Tuesday, government-aligned forces launched a large-scale offensive into the Druze-majority city of Sweida. Backed by tribal militias and extremist factions, the assault quickly turned from a “security operation” into a street-by-street battle that has left military and civilian victims.

Amid the chaos, witness accounts to The National reveal a disturbing pattern of ambushes, executions, looting and the symbolic humiliation of the Druze community.

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A city breached

After days of increasing confrontations, government forces entered central Sweida under the pretext of restoring order. A military source told The National that the operation was co-ordinated in part with local Druze factions, including the city’s spiritual council.

But Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, the controversial Druze leader who has refused to make a deal with Damascus, remained defiant, refusing to surrender or negotiate. His fighters, dug into residential neighbourhoods, laid deadly ambushes.

“There were brutal confrontations,” said Abu Hamzeh, a Syrian security officer. “Hikmat Hijri’s gangs ambushed us repeatedly. We lost dozens of soldiers. They are trying to split the country.”

Druze fighters inflicted major losses on government forces in what residents called co-ordinated and lethal attacks. Government tanks and troop carriers were hit in narrow alleys, and drone footage released by the Israeli military showed strikes on Syrian army sites – underscoring the regional implications of the battle.

But the government’s response was ferocious.

Heavy shelling

Artillery, Grad rockets, Shaheen drones and mortars rained down on densely populated neighbourhoods. Thousands of residents fled westward as the shelling turned homes into rubble.

Sweida’s western countryside emptied overnight. One witness described entire families walking for hours on foot, clutching plastic bags filled with their last belongings, while others tentatively stayed at home.

Yara, a dental student, was among those who fled. “We are under intense shelling,” she said. “Some of my friends were killed. The army shelled our house with heavy weapons. We barely escaped. They looted everything, even furniture. This isn’t security, it’s a massacre.”

Footage posted online showed scenes of panic and destruction. One video showed corpses of men apparently executed at close range, lying in their civilian clothes with blood soaking the floor of a traditional Druze guesthouse.

Pro-Syrian government forces have staged battles with members of the Druze minority. Reuters

Another clip showed a group of fighters forcibly shaving the moustache of an elderly Druze man, shaking and pinned down as a soldier ran a razor across his face. In Druze culture, the moustache is a sacred symbol of dignity and masculinity. In another video, a masked fighter was seen removing the moustache of a slain Druze man, holding it aloft: “I’m taking this to Idlib,” he said.

Such scenes led to outrage, especially as reports mounted of women being abducted, houses ransacked and civilians shot in their own homes. “They took everything from me,” said a man from Omran Square. “My car, my sound system, $5,000 in cash – gone. We’re living in a jungle.”

Disunited front

While the Druze spiritual council largely backed the army’s arrival, Mr Al Hijri's defiance fractured that unity. His fighters continued to resist, refusing any deal with Damascus, and reportedly had captured soldiers executed. The Syrian government has given his refusal to negotiate as a reason for the bloodshed, but residents say it is only part of the story.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 116 people were killed in the initial fighting – a number expected to rise significantly as bodies continue to be recovered. Local hospitals are overwhelmed, and power and water cuts have deepened the suffering.

In a televised address, Syria's Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qusra called on troops to “protect citizens” and “preserve public and private property". He warned that any soldier involved in violations would be held accountable.

Israel has intervened in the conflict by attacking Syrian regime targets. AFP

But on the ground, accountability remains elusive. Residents speak of entire neighbourhoods stripped bare. “They stole phones, jewellery, electronics,” one witness said. “We even saw soldiers with razor blades in their pockets. They came prepared to humiliate.”

Syrian authorities have since sent military police to Sweida, saying they would control rogue elements. A curfew was imposed at 8am on Tuesday, with residents ordered to remain indoors, but sporadic gunfire could be heard well into the night.

The Interior Ministry insisted its forces were acting “exclusively to protect the population and re-establish order". Yet the facts in Sweida suggest something darker: a city caught in the crossfire of sectarian tension, state violence, and the deep scars of Syria’s fragmented postwar landscape.

“The people of Sweida are not rebels — they’re defending their homes from a co-ordinated assault by General Security and extremist militias," activist Jessica Ez-al-Deen told The National. "This isn’t a fight over politics. It’s a campaign to disarm and subjugate the Druze community by force.”

She said the attacks struck civilian homes. “Mortar shells rained down and entire families were wiped out. One mother watched all three of her sons executed in front of her."

One of the dead was a dermatologist on her way to help at a hospital, Ms Ez-al-Deen said. "No one was spared, not even the healers.”