Hope for Syria's Druze as Damascus motorway opens to aid

Authorities allow convoys to use Damascus-Sweida road but shortages of basic goods remain

A convoy of UN vehicles passes a Syrian government checkpoint on its way to Sweida. AP

Syria is allowing aid to reach embattled Sweida province through the most direct route from Damascus, easing a two-month siege on the Druze minority's heartland.

Aid deliveries have been accompanied for the first time by lorries carrying a private food consignment financed by Druze people. However, Sweida's Druze population remains trapped and shortages of basic goods are rife, The National was told on Monday.

The area has been virtually cut off since an outbreak of violence in Sweida this summer ended with a ceasefire under US and Israeli pressure. Syrian authorities had restricted aid deliveries to to the UN and Red Crescent, and only through the adjacent province of Deraa where convoys were often intercepted by pro-government militias.

By contrast, “the deliveries in the last two days have been smooth”, an international aid official in neighbouring Jordan told The National. The supplies consisted of peanut butter, high-energy biscuits, vegetables, diesel for operating bakeries, water pumps for the municipal authorities in Sweida, solar panels, clothes and 350 tonnes of wheat.

But only 23 aid conveys have entered Sweida so far, according to the Syrian Red Crescent. The official said that the free flow of goods and people, and not sporadic aid, is needed to sustain the governorate, the 500,000 population of which is overwhelmingly Druze.

A diplomat in Amman said Tom Barrack, the US envoy to Syria, has been urging the authorities to open the Damascus-Sweida motorway. “He is pushing for a full civilian access to the highway. The Druze are trapped in Sweida and those outside – students, for example – cannot go in,” he said.

Tribal fighters in the Druze-majority town of Mazraa, in Sweida, southern Syria, in July. EPA

Sweida, which is on the border with Jordan, has emerged as a main obstacle in US-sponsored peace talks between Syria and Israel. Since July’s fighting involving Druze fighters, local tribes and government forces, the main Syrian Druze religious figure, Hikmat Al Hijri, has called for international support for Sweida to separate from the rest of Syria.

The prospect appears unrealistic, given that Sweida is landlocked and has no direct access to Israel. Jordan and other Arab countries do not support such a move.

Government troops and auxiliaries have been surrounding Sweida since Israel's intervention prevented the takeover of the governorate by the new central authorities. Syria has been governed by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a group formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, since the overthrow of the dictator Bashar Al Assad in December. Pro-government militias in Deraa often stopped the convoys and sometimes abducted their drivers and other personnel.

Suhail Thebian, a prominent civil figure in Sweida, said that the new route represents a "very slight" improvement in the situation. "Remember the deliveries are minute,” said Mr Thebian, who said food prices are high and that most public workers and pensioners have not been paid for two months.

Expatriates, upon whom many in Sweida depend, can no longer transfer money, and education has come to a halt because the schools are full of refugees. “Sweida is under siege. It might seem less obvious now. But it exists” Mr Thebian said.