‘Syrian president doesn't need Israel as an enemy'
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NBC News
2 hours ago
- NBC News
U.S citizen killed in Syria sectarian violence alongside 6 Druze family members
An American citizen from Oklahoma was killed along with six male relatives during the sectarian violence that erupted last week in Syria. Syrian-American Hosam Saraya, 35, was visiting his family in Sweida in southern Syria from Oklahoma City, where he lived. Last Wednesday, he and his family members were seized by armed men and gunned down in the street, according to a relative who spoke to NBC News on the condition of anonymity. NBC News could not independently verify who was responsible for the attack. Video footage circulating online and verified by NBC News showed an execution-style shooting of Saraya and his family members. In one video posted to Instagram, eight men are seen forced to walk in a line on a deserted street west of Tishreen Square in Sweida's city center by about half a dozen armed men in military-style fatigues. In another video, the same men are kneeling before being gunned down by the armed men, as dozens of shots are fired over 15 seconds. A graduate of Oklahoma Christian University and Damascus University, Saraya was a member of Syria's Druze religious minority and had founded a virtual school for Syrian children administered from Sweida. 'He loved to help his community… He's always been, you know, very ambitious and very kind,' his relative said. The State Department on Monday confirmed that an American citizen had been killed in Syria but did not identify them or provide any further details. 'We offer condolences to the family on their loss and are providing consular assistance to them,' a spokesperson for the State Department said, adding, 'We are greatly concerned when any U.S. citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are.' The spokesperson said the U.S. had called for 'accountability in all cases where U.S. citizens are harmed abroad.' Republican Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) said in a post on X Monday that he and his wife were "heartbroken" by Saraya's death. "Hosam was an Oklahoman and member of the Druze community who was tragically executed alongside other members of his family in Syria," Lankford said. Clashes first broke out between Syria's Druze minority and Bedouin tribal militias earlier this month, drawing interventions from government security forces and Israel. Hundreds were reportedly killed in the clashes. The fighting came to a pause over the weekend after the Syrian government said it agreed to a fragile ceasefire with both sides. As part of the U.S.-backed truce, the Syrian government on Monday began evacuating Bedouin families from the predominantly Druze city. 'Escalating hostilities can only be contained with an agreement to pause violence, protect the innocent, allow humanitarian access, and step back from danger,' Thomas Barrack, Special Envoy for Syria, said in a statement while announcing the deal. Israeli airstrikes in Syria last week also caught President Donald Trump by surprise, White Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Monday. Trump 'was caught off guard by the bombing in Syria and also the bombing of a Catholic Church in Gaza,' Leavitt said, adding, 'In both accounts, the president quickly called the prime minister to rectify those situations.' The recent outbreak of violence risks reigniting sectarian tensions in the country nearly seven months after its longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was toppled. The Druze and other minorities remain wary of Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who met Trump in May after the president said he would lift sanctions on the war-torn country. U.S. officials are now scrambling to contain the violence, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling on Damascus to prevent 'violent jihadists' from 'carrying out massacres.' 'They must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,' Rubio said in a statement Sunday. More than 128,500 people have been displaced since the clashes began July 13, according to the United Nations' International Organization for Migration. U.N. Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement last week that there were credible reports of widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions, arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction of private property and looting of homes by the Syrian government forces, as well as Druze and Bedouin fighters.
NBC News
a day ago
- NBC News
Syrian government starts evacuating Bedouin families from Sweida in bid to end weeklong clashes
The Syrian government on Monday started evacuating Bedouin families trapped inside the city of Sweida, where Druze militiamen and Bedouin fighters have clashed for over a week. The clashes between militias of the Druze religious minority and the Sunni Muslim clans killed hundreds and threatened to unravel Syria's already fragile postwar transition. The clashes also led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze community, followed by revenge attacks against the Bedouins. The U.N. International Organization for Migration said some 128,571 people were displaced in the hostilities that started with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks a week ago. Israel also launched dozens of airstrikes in the Druze-majority Sweida province, targeting government forces who had effectively sided with the Bedouins. Syrian state media said early Sunday that the government had coordinated with some officials in Sweida to bring in buses to evacuate some 1,500 Bedouins in the city. Syrian Interior Minister Ahmad al-Dalati told SANA that the initiative will also allow displaced civilians from Sweida to return, as the fighting has largely stopped and efforts for a complete ceasefire are ongoing. 'We have imposed a security cordon in the vicinity of Sweida to keep it secure and to stop the fighting there,' al-Dalati told the Syrian state-run news agency. 'This will preserve the path that will lead to reconciliation and stability in the province.' Buses filled with Bedouin families were accompanied by Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicles and ambulances. Some families left on trucks with their belongings.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Syria: Bedouins tell BBC they could return to fighting Druze
Bedouin fighters positioned outside the southern Syrian city of Suweida have told the BBC they will observe a ceasefire with the Druze community there, but have not ruled out resuming hostilities. The Bedouin fighters have retreated from the city to surrounding villages in the province after a week of deadly sectarian clashes between Druze fighters, Bedouins and government forces, with Israel carrying out air strikes in support of the Sunday a UK-based monitoring group said there was a "cautious calm" in the region - but later said tribal fighters had attacked the town of al-Mazara'a - a Druze town until last week when it was taken over by the Bedouin and now under Syrian government control - smoke could be seen across the fields rising from Suweida a nearby checkpoint a mound of dirt cut across the road. Dozens of government security personnel were standing along it, all heavily armed and blocking the Bedouin from re-entering the of Bedouin fighters, many firing guns into the air, crowded the want the release of injured Bedouin people still in the city of Suweida, who they refer to as hostages. Otherwise, they say, they will force their way past the checkpoint and head back into the city."We did what the government have ordered us and we are committed to the agreement, and the government words and we came back, Suweida is 35km far from here," a tribal elder told the BBC."Currently our hostages and wounded are there, they are refusing to give us anyone... If they don't commit to the agreement we are going to enter again, even if Suweida will become our cemetery." Long-running tensions between Druze and Bedouin tribes erupted into deadly sectarian clashes a week ago, after the abduction of a Druze merchant on the road to the capital President Ahmed al-Sharaa's government responded by deploying forces to the city. Druze residents of Suweida told the BBC they had witnessed "barbaric acts" as gunmen - government forces and foreign fighters - attacked people. Israel targeted these forces, saying they were acting to protect the forces withdrew and Druze and Bedouin fighters subsequently clashed. Both Druze and Bedouin fighters have been accused of atrocities over the past seven days, as well as members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim Saturday, al-Sharaa announced a ceasefire and sent security forces to Suweida to end the Druze fighters are once again in control of the city. But more than 1,120 people have been killed, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) dead included 427 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians, 194 of whom were "summarily executed by defence and interior ministry personnel", the monitor 354 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin were also killed, three of them civilians who it said were "summarily executed by Druze fighters". Another 15 government troops were killed in Israeli strikes, it said. At least 128,000 people have been displaced by the violence, the UN migration agency said on Sunday. Suweida city has a severe medical supply shortage, the SOHR said.A first humanitarian convoy from the Syrian Red Crescent has reportedly reached the city. Israel's public broadcaster reported that Israel had sent medical aid to the Secretary of State Marco Rubio meanwhile has demanded that the government "hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks" to preserve the possibility of a united and peaceful Mia'rbah, south-west of Suweida, Bedouin refugees gathered at what used to be a school. The village still bore the scars from years of civil war, with buildings lying in ruins and strewn with bullet holes. At the aid distribution centres elderly Bedouin women collected water from a tank on the back of the truck. Most of the people there were women and children. Asked whether she thought Bedouin and Druze could live together, one woman displaced from Suweida city said it would depend on the government in Damascus. "They can live together if the government will take over and rule, and if the government will provide peace and security," she the absence of government authority, she said she believed that Bedouin could not trust the Druze."They are traitors, without peace and security we can't live with them," she reporting by Jack Burgess
