Systematic Atrocities Against The Druze In Swaida, Syria July 2025 – WARNING: GRAPHIC

Memri

3 days ago

On July 20, 2025, the Druze Documentation Nexus published the following report, titled "Systematic Atrocities Against the Druze in Swaida, Syria July 2025." The report, which was provided to MEMRI, documents the brutal campaign of sectarian violence with coordinated and organized attacks by Al-Joulani regime forces, terrorist militias, and Bedouin tribes targeting the Druze community in Swaida, located in Southern Syria.
Following are the text and images of the report:
Silence is no longer an option.
The Druze and other minorities ask
only for the right to live in peace on
their ancestral land. We urge you:
HELP US SURVIVE!
Executive Summary
On July 14, 2025, the City of Swaida witnessed a brutal campaign of sectarian violence targeting the Druze community. Initially framed as retaliatory operations by Bedouin groups and extremist elements, the events quickly escalated into a coordinated campaign of systematic atrocities. What began as sporadic assaults evolved into a deliberate and sustained onslaught involving state-aligned forces, local militias, and jihadist factions.
Contrary to their official mandate, units from the General Security Force of the Interior Ministry and Multiple Syrian Army Divisions operating under the Syrian Defense Ministry, not only failed to protect the Swaida civilians but actively collaborated with Bedouin militias and extremist fighters. The result was a multi-day campaign characterized by targeted killings, acts of sexual violence, use of Turkish drones to bomb civilians, mass executions, looting, burning down houses, and widespread desecration of cultural and religious sites.
Coordinated And Organized Attacks By Al-Joulani Regime Forces, Terrorist Militias, And Bedouin Tribes
Organized and coordinated attacks by Al-Joulani regime forces and terrorist militias against Jaramana City, Ashrafiyet Sahnaya, Sahnaya and Swaida Outskirts resulted in hundreds of victims between killed, wounded and arrested.
Coordinated and organized attacks by Al-Joulani regime forces, terrorist militias and Bedouin Tribes attacked Swaida from different sides. Imams in their mosques called for jihad all over Syria. The violence intensified. Government forces officially entered the region under the pretense of restoring order but instead escalated the massacre and supported the non-state actors in brutality and Ethnic Cleansing, resulted to date in 1,017 killed and hundreds others wounded and abducted. Tens of thousands were displaced from their homes.
Nature Of Atrocities Committed
Extrajudicial Killings: Civilians, including entire families attempting to flee, were executed. Alawite refugees, previously displaced from coastal violence, were among the victims.
Sexual Violence: Numerous credible reports emerged of women and girls being raped and abducted. More than 80 women and girls are still abducted.
Targeted Humiliation and Torture: Elderly Druze men were subjected to public humiliation, including being forced to imitate animals, having their facial hair forcibly removed, and enduring torture before being executed.
Medical Blockades: Hospitals were sealed off, shelled, medical equipment looted. Medical personnel Killed or Trapped, with no access to evacuation or external aid. Several wounded civilians were denied treatment and were left to die and many wounded patients were executed in the hospital.
Desecration of the Dead: Bodies of the deceased were mutilated and mocked post-mortem. Video evidence shows government-aligned forces partaking in these acts.
Religious and Cultural Destruction: Homes, shops, Druze shrines, and churches were systematically looted, vandalized and/or burned down. Sacred objects were defiled or destroyed in acts of sectarian symbolism.
Role Of State And Non-State Actors
The Syrian Ministry of Defense Army divisions and the General Security Force are directly implicated in facilitating, endorsing, and participating in the violence, massacres and destruction. Despite official state media narratives portraying the conflict as a Druze-Bedouin conflict and portraying government efforts to restore order, independent documentation and footage confirm active participation of Government authorities in the atrocities and ethnic cleansing.
Non-state actors, including Bedouin militias and jihadist groups from Homs, Idlib, and other Syrian governorates operated with impunity. Government logistical support, public endorsement, and ideological alignment between these groups and state apparatuses indicate a shared strategic and organized planning in targeting the Druze and Christian community in Swaida.
Intent And Pattern
The violence in Swaida bears clear markers of systematic, sectarian persecution. The intent was not merely territorial control or conflict containment but the dehumanization, terrorization, and eradication of a minority community. The pattern in alignment with earlier atrocities along the Syrian coast and Christians in multiple locations across Syria proves a recurring campaign of sectarian cleansing masked by counter-insurgency rhetoric.
Conclusion And Recommendations
This ongoing event in Swaida that started on July 14 represents a grave breach of international humanitarian law and human rights standards. They demand immediate international scrutiny, independent investigation, and accountability for those responsible, including state actors.
Recommendations
- An urgent UN-mandated inquiry should be established to investigate crimes against humanity in Swaida.
- Immediate humanitarian access must be granted to the region to assess and respond to the needs of surviving victims.
-Sanctions and legal proceedings should target individuals and institutions within the Al-Joulani government complicit in the violence.
-The international community must prioritize protection mechanisms for vulnerable minority populations in Syria to prevent recurrence.
List of Victims
There are more than 1,017 Druze and Christian victims in Swaida.
Below is a list of more than 245 Druze and Christian victims. There remain several hundred bodies in the hospital yet to be identified and documented.
Al-Radwan Guesthouse Massacre:
Location: Central Swaida city.
Date: July 15, 2025
Toll: 13 martyrs and 3 injured in intensive care.
Incident Report Summary: A military unit, including individuals in official military uniforms, forcibly entered the Al-Radwan Guesthouse and indiscriminately opened fire on all those present. All victims were unarmed civilians. A video recording from the scene shows the bodies of the victims inside the guesthouse, providing visual evidence of the attack.
Al-Qardab Crime Near Al-Basha Roundabout:
Location: Al-Basha Roundabout, Swaida city.
Toll: six martyrs, including three siblings and three relatives.
Details: A security patrol carried out a field execution of six civilians in front of their home, in the presence of the mother of the three siblings. The victims, aged between 25 and 30, included two engineers and university students.
The Killing Of Innocent Children
The secret forces showed no mercy – not even to children. Many young lives were taken in cold blood. These are just a few of the innocent victims:
-Yaman Maen Maklad – only 11 years old.
- Zaid Dalal – 14 years old. He was shot in the head during the events in Sweida City.
-Genna Helal – a 14-year-old girl killed by secret forces.
-Odai and Qusai Abou Ammar – brothers aged 13 and 17.
Their lives were tragically cut short. These names are not just statistics – they were children with dreams, families, and futures that were stolen from them.
Al-Qantar And Al-Qassem Crime
Location: In front of the victims' home, Swaida.
Toll: three civilian martyrs.
Details: Three civilians from the Al-Qantar and Al-Qassem families were subjected to a field execution in front of their home. Depicted below is a shocking image documenting the bodies of the victims alongside two female relatives.
Killing Of Medical Doctors And Staff
Dr. Faten Hussein Hilal was shot in the head while heading to Swaida National Hospital to perform her humanitarian duties, resulting in her martyrdom. Dr. Talaat Amer was killed on duty in the National Swaida Hospital.
Emergency Department
Dr. Lujain Alarbeed posted on her Facebook: "I am Dr. Lujain Al- Arbeed. We are trapped in the emergency department, me and the medical staff. We are being shot at from inside the hospital. If you can help us, please do. And if not, forgive us, we were supporting you until the last moment."
The Execution Of U.S. Citizen Hosam Saraya
More than 100 US Citizens, Green Card Holders, and their first-degree relatives have reported missing, caught in a crossfire in Swaida, or their situation is unknown.
Hosam Saraya, a U.S. citizen and resident of Oklahoma, was gunned down along with his father, uncles, and cousins – every adult male in the household – all members of the Druze minority, during a raid by Al-Joulani regime forces on their family home in Tishreen City Square. Hosam was in Sweida, Syria on an extended visit to care for his family. He was planning to return to the U.S. but was trapped when Al-Joulani regime forces closed the roads into and out of the city.
His family in the U.S. had already reached out to the U.S. Embassy and the State Department, who responded quickly – but tragically, it was too late. Hosam was murdered just hours later.
Destruction Of Religious Sites And Symbols
St. Michael Church in the village of Soura Al-Kabeera, rural Swaida, was set on fire following the takeover of the village by General Security forces affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.[1] Druze religious places and symbols were destroyed by members of the Al-Joulani General Security Forces.
Genocide In Swaida Between July 14-19, 2025
Sectarian Abuse
Media pages affiliated with the authorities have circulated footage showing members of Al-Joulani General Security and Army forces affiliated with the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense humiliating key religious symbols and civilians by forcibly shaving mustaches (a sacred symbol of dignity and heritage).[2]
Jihadi Incitement
Civilian buses were spotted in areas under the control of the de facto government, bearing banners that read: "Dedicated to transporting Terrorists Mujahideen fighters to Swaida for free."
Abducted Druze Woman
More than 80 women and girls were reported missing including: Samar Jamil Nassar, 31; Abeer Hisham Qurdab, 24; Sawsan Khaldoun Muhanna, 33; Dima Bashar Najm Ghanem, 29; and Widad Ahd Deeb, 26.
Deliberate Cutoff Of Essential Services In Swaida
The Druze community in Swaida have been deliberately subjected to harsh and inhumane conditions as part of a broader campaign of collective punishment. Authorities have systematically cut off electricity, water, and internet services, decommissioned all hospitals in Swaida, and cut off food supplies to the region, aiming to starve the local population to death, as part of the tools of ethnic cleansing.
Other Tragic News
Hundreds of bodies belonging to members of the Druze community remain scattered in the streets of Swaida, a grim reminder of the brutality inflicted upon Swaida. Numerous videos from Swaida reveal extensive looting and destruction carried out by Al-Joulani General Security forces and his terrorist Militias across homes, shops, and public property. A three-month-old Druze infant was killed by Al-Joulani General Security forces during Swaida massacres. Foreign fighters were operating alongside Al-Joulani regime security forces. Druze in Idlib and Damascus are being actively targeted with incitement and hate speech. Several Druze students were physically assaulted inside the university of Aleppo/University of Homs/The University of Damascus. The assaults escalated to live gunfire.
The streets of Swaida are now littered with bodies. The morgue refrigerators and hallways are full. All local hospitals are overwhelmed with men, women, and children – many in critical condition – lacking access to even the most basic medical supplies. Much of the city is without electricity or running water, and fuel is nearly impossible to find. Most roads remain blocked, including the vital route to Damascus, which supplies the city with food and essential goods.
Al-Joulani Regime forces, disguised in tribal attire together with the rogue terrorist tribal militias continue to terrorize the outskirts, sniping at civilians attempting to return to their homes, and together with organized attacks to capture Swaida City again. The threat remains real, and the community is traumatized, exhausted, and dangerously vulnerable.
We Are Urgently Calling For:
- A humanitarian aid corridor from neighboring Jordan to deliver critical food, water, medical supplies, and fuel.
- International protection, through the United Nations or international observers, to monitor the situation and prevent future atrocities.
-A strong response from the U.S. State Department and Congress to put pressure on all parties responsible for these human rights violations.
We Druze Syrians have long been marginalized and unprotected. We raised alarms months ago – following the massacres against Alawites in Western Syria, and Christians in multiple parts of Syria including the West, Central and Damascus – and once again, history has repeated itself. We cannot allow this cycle to continue.