Latest news with #Bedouin
Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
How Syrian attackers killed: One hand on the gun, another on the camera
The fighters in military-style uniforms pointed their rifles at the three unarmed men and ordered them out onto a sunny balcony, before barking at them to pause. "One minute. You want to film them?" one of the attackers asked his comrade. The unfolding horror, which was already being filmed by one gunman on his cellphone, was delayed for a few moments to allow a second fighter to start capturing the events. "Let's go! Throw yourself over," the gunmen yelled at their victims, members of Syria's minority Druze faith. Two of the attackers shot the men one by one as they clambered over the black railing before their bodies tumbled to the street below, according to footage circulating on social media reviewed by reporters. The victims were Moaz Arnous, his brother Baraa Arnous and their cousin, Osama Arnous, according to a family friend and another cousin who both told reporters the video showed the three being killed at their home in the southern city of Sweida on July 16. The deaths were among 12 execution-style killings of unarmed Druze civilians carried out at three sites in and around Sweida this month by gunmen wearing military fatigues, according to the footage of the attacks, which was filmed by the killers themselves or people accompanying them and verified by reporters. Another video shows Mounir al-Rajma, a 60-year-old guard at a communal water well, being gunned down by two young fighters after telling them he is Druze, his son Wiam said. Other footage shows a group of fighters forcing eight civilians to kneel in the dust of a roundabout before shooting them dead, according to a friend and a relative of some of those victims. The videos provide some of the most detailed depictions yet of the bloodshed that erupted in Sweida province in mid-July, initially between local Druze militia and Bedouin tribal fighters and subsequently government forces sent to restore order. The violence killed hundreds of mostly Druze people, according to reporting and two monitoring groups. Reporters were able to use visible landmarks in each video to geolocate the incidents. The events depicted and their dates were verified through interviews with seven relatives and friends of the victims. All said they believed Syrian government forces killed their loved ones. The news agency could not identify the attackers in the videos, which were not time-stamped, or determine who first posted them online. The pieces of footage began appearing online after July 18, a review of social media posts found. A woman carries an image from a widely circulated video showing an 80-year-old man in front of his home as another man in military attire forcibly shaved off his mustache — a grave insult in the Druze community. | AFP-JIJI The media offices of the Syrian defense and interior ministries didn't respond to questions on the filmed attacks. Syria's defense ministry said on July 22 that it was aware of reports that an "unknown group" wearing military fatigues committed "shocking and gross violations" in Sweida. It didn't mention execution-style killings targeting Druze people. The ministry vowed to investigate the abuses, identify those responsible and impose "maximum penalties" on perpetrators, "even if they are affiliated with the ministry of defense." On the same day, the interior ministry condemned "in the strongest terms the circulating videos showing field executions carried out by unidentified individuals in the city of Sweida." Rights group: At least 1,000 dead Syria has been plagued by bouts of sectarian strife since the sudden fall of President Bashar Assad and his police state in December last year after 14 years of war. The new government, led by a former Sunni Islamist group that has its roots in global jihad, dissolved Assad's army and sought to integrate dozens of former rebel factions into a national army, but those forces have struggled to fill the security vacuum. Sweida province is predominantly populated by the Druze community, a distant offshoot of Islam that comprises about 3% of Syria's pre-war population of 24 million. The atrocities there came four months after a spree of killings against the Alawite minority, with armed factions affiliated to the new government killing hundreds of people in coastal settlements. The Sweida unrest began on July 13, when longstanding local tensions over land and resources in the province escalated into clashes between local Druze militia and Bedouin tribal fighters, who like government forces largely adhere to the country's majority Sunni faith. The violence worsened significantly after the Syrian military was deployed to the province on July 14 to quell the clashes and entered Sweida city itself on July 15, according to residents, two war monitors and reporters on the ground. The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 1,013 people have been killed in the bloodshed since July 13, including 47 women, 26 children and six medical personnel. The group said victims were mainly Druze, adding that it wasn't clear how many were fighters or civilians. The network said the vast majority died after the army's arrival led to a sharp increase in fighting. A bedouin fighter walks near a burned building after sectarian clashes escalated in Syria's predominantly Druze region of Sweida on July 19. | REUTERS The organization's head, Fadel Abdulghany, said it had documented execution-style killings by Syrian troops, Bedouin fighters and Druze groups. A forensic pathologist in the city of Sweida, who requested anonymity to speak about sensitive matters, said he had examined 502 bodies that had been brought to the Sweida National Hospital during this month's violence. One was decapitated and two, including a teenage girl, had their throats slit. Most of the others suffered from gunshot wounds inflicted at close range, he said. Reporters could not independently verify the numbers or specific atrocities recounted by the Syrian network and the pathologist. 'Are you Muslim or Druze?' The son of Rajma, the 60-year-old water well guard, identified his father in a video verified as having been filmed on July 15 outside the Muhammad Salih Nasr School in the town of Thaalah, less than a kilometer from their home. Rajma is seen sitting on the steps of the school's entrance as at least three young rifle-toting men in military fatigues are heard repeatedly screaming at him, "Are you Muslim or Druze?" The exchange is filmed by someone standing directly next to the fighters and it is unclear if the person is also armed. When the older man answers, "I'm Syrian," one fighter responds: "What does Syrian mean? Muslim or Druze?" Rajma says: "My brother, I'm Druze." Three of the fighters immediately open fire. "This is the fate of every dog among you, you pigs," one of them says. In another verified video, a group of seven fighters in military fatigues carrying rifles are seen guiding eight men in civilian clothes down a sidewalk. Based on the shop signs and road layout, reporters identified the street as lying just west of Tishreen Square in the heart of Sweida city. A drone view of the city of Sweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Syria on July 18. | REUTERS The only visible insignia on the fatigues is a small black patch on the right arm of one of the fighters bearing the Islamic declaration of faith in a design popularized by the Islamic State group. reporters have also seen some soldiers at checkpoints in government areas wearing them. Syria's defense and interior ministries didn't respond to questions on whether their forces wear the patches. The Islamic State group did not mention Sweida in any of their posts on their social media propaganda channels, including in the period after July 13. Reporters couldn't reach a representative for the group. A few seconds into the video, the fighter filming turns his phone camera around to his own face: He's a bearded man dressed in military fatigues, with a red bandana wrapped around his head and the butt of a rifle visible across his chest. The eight victims walk in single file, each resting his hands on the shoulders of the man in front. The last man in line, wearing a tan shirt and sandals, was identified by a friend who watched the video as Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old Syrian-American citizen. The friend said the older man directly in front of him in line was Hosam's father, and the next man was Hosam's brother Kareem. Most of the others were from the same extended family, the friend added. Dima Saraya, the wife of Ali Saraya — another of the men in line — told reporters that armed men in military fatigues had surrounded the apartment building where the extended Saraya family lived west of Tishreen Square on July 16 and demanded that the men inside surrender themselves, promising to question them for a few hours and return them home safely. U.S. Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma confirmed that Hosam, who had lived in Oklahoma, "was tragically executed alongside other members of his family in Syria." He didn't give further details. A separate video shows the same eight unarmed men kneeling in the dirt of a roundabout in Tishreen Square. Reporters were able to verify the video's location from the statue in the roundabout and a tower block visible directly behind it. The same friend identified Hosam, his brother and his father among the kneeling men in the second video. At least two fighters fire their rifles directly at the kneeling group, from close proximity and for at least seven seconds. The kneeling men crumple into the dirt and lie motionless as the armed men yell, "God is great."
CairoScene
6 hours ago
- CairoScene
Oppenheim's Ayla Golf Clubhouse Emerges From Jordan's Desert Landscape
The Ayla Golf Club in Jordan features an 18-hole Greg Norman course and a sculptural clubhouse by Oppenheim Architecture, designed to echo the curves, tones and textures of the surrounding desert. In Aqaba, Jordan, where the raw topography of desert and mountain shapes every encounter, the Ayla Golf Clubhouse designed by Oppenheim Architecture emerges not as an imposition but as an elemental act of belonging. Here, architecture yields to landscape. The 13,000 sqft structure, at the heart of the Ayla Oasis mixed use resort development, invites neither spectacle nor nostalgia. Instead, it lands softly, its form and spirit shaped by the dunescapes and the ancestral memory of the Bedouin. This is not simply a signature for a leisure resort. It is the physical beginning of a 17s qmi urban vision, with residences, hotels and commerce all gathered around an 18-hole golf course designed by Greg Norman. Yet, despite the scale, Ayla's architecture stands in deliberate opposition to monumentality. In the Clubhouse and Golf Academy, retail and wellness, training and banqueting are enveloped, not by traditional walls, but under a single, continuous concrete shell. The line between inside and out blurs. The building does not occupy the land; it emerges from it. The shell's curves mimic the restless contours of shifting dunes; shotcrete, poured on-site, was selected not for convenience but so that construction itself could become a local craft. Early phases saw European architects and Jordanian workers collaborate, as workers were trained in shotcrete pouring techniques during the initial phases to empower them with specialised skills and a sense of ownership over the construction. A local artist, using traditional pigmentation, gave the interiors their tactile, unembellished surfaces. The horizon line of the golf course and the mineral palette of the Aqaba Mountains are visible through apertures softened with perforated corten steel screens. Triangular motifs drawn from Jordanian patterns allow sunlight to enter, filtered as through Mashrabiya, recalling privacy without resorting to separation. The building's shell wraps interior and exterior alike, spaces alternately retreating from and expanding toward the desert. The tone of the shotcrete and corten echoes the surrounding geology, avoiding contrast or adornment.
The National
6 hours ago
- Politics
- The National
'We will never go back': Bedouin families forced into permanent exile after Sweida violence
Khitam Hawarin, an 18-year-old Bedouin from the town of Shahba in Syria 's Druze-majority province of Sweida, said she lay soaked in her own blood for more than an hour. She recalls watching helplessly as her mother's corpse burnt beside her, after Druze fighters had opened fire on her family. The assailants killed her mother, her aunt, her uncle's wife, her grandmother and two cousins, including one who was only six years old, as they hid behind a stone wall. 'Everyone died, except for me,' she said two weeks later, her arm and leg wrapped in white gauze, her movements sluggish with pain and grief. The young Syrian survived only because Druze neighbours intervened, taking her to a nearby hospital. 'They told people I was their daughter and changed my name so no one would know I was Bedouin,' she said. Armed men from Druze factions had been roaming the hospital, threatening to kill any Bedouin they found. 'There are good Druze and bad Druze,' Khitam said candidly. 'The ones who attacked us were armed. The ones who saved me weren't.' She spoke little, still visibly in shock, her brown eyes heavy with sorrow. Khitam and her family were evacuated days later in a humanitarian convoy. The girl, who was supposed to take her baccalaureate exam this summer, is now living in a classroom in Izraa, in Syria's Deraa governorate, as a displaced person. She no longer sees a future for herself. The school is one of 64 displacement centres hosting thousands of families who fled the vicious sectarian violence that erupted two weeks ago between Druze militants and armed Bedouin. What began as retaliatory attacks between two long-standing rivals escalated rapidly, as Syrian troops entered the fray on July 16. Druze factions, who distrust the new authorities led by a now-disarmed rebel group formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, accused Syrian forces of siding with Sunni Bedouin and mobilised to repel them. The violence soon engulfed the entire Sweida region, killing more than 1,300 people, including civilians from both sides, general security forces, tribesmen and Druze gunmen, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, Though a ceasefire between Druze leaders and Damascus was announced on July 19, civilians are still reeling from the conflict and the situation remains unstable. No return Though Druze civilians were the primary targets of the sectarian clashes, Bedouin families were also subjected to summary executions, according to testimonies gathered on the ground. The National could not independently verify all witness accounts. Bedouin families accused the faction aligned with Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, the influential Druze religious leader and vocal critic of Syrian authorities, of being behind the violations. Sweida governorate, home to about 700,000 people, includes a small Bedouin minority. Families interviewed by The National said they had lived peacefully alongside their Druze neighbours for years. They described the recent violence as a turning point, one that is irreversible. 'This is a departure with no return. It's truly a change in the religious and cultural make-up of the region,' Cedric Labrousse, a specialist in Syrian affairs, told The National. 'If you remove those who left voluntarily, those who were evacuated in recent days, and those still trying to flee, there won't be many Bedouin left here in a few weeks. Most Bedouin homes have been burnt. So even if they return, where would they go?' He said what had long been a localised feud between some Druze armed groups and certain Bedouin factions has now taken on a deeply sectarian dimension. 'It wasn't really there before, but now it's been implanted and it will stay in people's minds,' Mr Labrousse warned. 'Just imagine what Bedouin children will think of the Druze after this. And imagine what Druze children will think of the Bedouin in 20 years.' Hind, Khitam's sister, said she saw a missile tear a child apart. 'His head flew one way, his body another, right in front of my eyes,' she said. 'We can't go back. There's no way we can ever return." Their home has been looted and burnt down. Meanwhile, in a Druze-majority village, tribal fighters daubed graffiti on walls that read 'down with the collaborators, down with the Druze pigs'. In Sweida, The National also collected harrowing accounts from Druze civilians who survived attacks and summary executions, which they said were committed by Syrian troops and tribal gunmen. 'I don't see how trust between the two communities can ever be restored,' Mr Labrousse said. Marginalised community Mr Labrousse said the conflict between some Druze and Bedouin started as a trade rivalry. 'For years, Sweida has relied on smuggling, drugs, fuel, weapons … control over trafficking routes has always been critical, even before the civil war,' he said. He said that during the war, the smuggling business, particularly Captagon trafficking, expanded significantly, involving Druze and Bedouin groups. Their alliances often shifted, with groups alternating between business partners and rivals. He said that after former Syrian president Bashar Al Assad's fall, many cartels, storage sites and Captagon warehouses were dismantled'. 'This led to the collapse of the informal economy, the main source of livelihood in marginalised Sweida. Druze and Bedouin groups began fighting over a shrinking pool of resources, further fuelling tensions." But this time the feud took on a sectarian dimension. On one hand, 'the Bedouin have been gradually pushed to the margins of Druze society,' Mr Labrousse explained. 'The Druze had organised themselves, with their own local administration, while the Bedouin felt increasingly excluded, neglected, and marginalised.' On the other hand, the Druze remain distrustful of the new Syrian government, citing its Sunni Islamist roots, and view the new Syrian government as more sympathetic to the Bedouin. The Druze are a minority religious group that emerged from a branch of Islam, with followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. Some hardline Sunni Muslims consider them heretics. Their distrust has deepened as the Syrian Ministry of Defence continues to struggle to rein in a patchwork of factions, some of them radical, despite pledges of unification. In March, nearly 1,500 mostly Alawites citizens, the minority sect to which former Mr Al Assad belongs, were killed in a spree of sectarian violence, reportedly involving groups recently integrated into the army. At the start of the recent clashes, thousands of tribesmen from across Syria deployed to Sweida to support Bedouin fighters opposing Druze factions. 'Some of them had clear sectarian motives,' Mr Labrousse said. They stayed in the area for days despite calls from interim President Ahmad Al Shara to withdraw. 'I can't trust anyone' Assaf Mohammad Dahmash, a Bedouin man at a displacement centre, said he would never return to Sweida, a place he had called home since 2016 when he fled from ISIS in Deir Ezzor. 'They're capable of doing bad things. Not all of them, some are truly good people. But I don't think anyone can trust any more,' he said. 'It's become pure sectarianism. Like, if they see a Sunni, they will slaughter them. I heard a sheikh say that with my own ears." He said he had good relationships with his Druze neighbours in Sweida, whom he may never see again. 'I called my friend yesterday, we've known each other since 2016. We used to eat and drink coffee together. He was crying on the phone. His house was looted and his car was burnt. He told me to come back to Sweida but it's impossible.' A member of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, providing humanitarian assistance at one of the shelter centres, said the number of displaced people was still rising and there is no plan for what comes next. In the displacement centres, families are too shocked to even think about it. 'People here have no hope, no ambition. They just want shelter, wherever it may be,' said Mr Dahmash.
Qatar Tribune
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Qatar Tribune
EU Youth Short Film Festival returns for second edition
Tribune News Network Doha The EU Youth Short Film Festival is back for its highly anticipated second edition, taking place on November 24- 25, 2025 at the vibrant Doha Sands Beach. This year's festival promises another unforgettable celebration of creativity, cultural storytelling, and youth voices from Qatar and the European Union. With a special thematic spotlight on 'Women in Focus: Empowerment Through Storytelling' on the second day, the festival will continue to explore bold ideas and human stories through the lens of young filmmakers. 'The Delegation of the European Union to the State of Qatar invites Qatari filmmakers under the age of 35 to submit their short films for consideration,' the organisers said in a statement. As part of the festival, a panel of international and local experts will award prizes in two categories: Best Picture and Best Screenplay. Last year's Best Picture award went to Olayan by Qatari filmmaker Khalifa Al Marri, a touching story of a young Bedouin boy and his camel. The Best Screenplay award went to It's Nice in Here by Dutch filmmaker Robert-Jonathan Koeyers. Two Qatari films, Through Her Eyes by Lolwa Al Jassim and A Simple Cut by Maha Al Jufairi, received Honourable Mentions for their powerful storytelling and social themes. This year's winners will be celebrated during an award ceremony on the closing night of the festival. Submission guidelines • Open to Qatari nationals or residents under 35 years of age • Films must be 20 minutes or less • Must include English subtitles if not in English • All genres welcome: fiction, documentary, animation, experimental • Films must be submitted by email to: • Deadline for submissions: 30 August 2025 More exciting programming will be announced soon, including opportunities for youth engagement and expert-led masterclasses. For updates, follow @EUinQatar on social media or visit us as we celebrate the next generation of storytellers, one frame at a for November event now open for Qatari youth filmmakers
Channel 4
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Channel 4
Inside Sweida with Druze militia group
The southern Syrian city of Sweida, torn apart by days of fighting, is still suffering a lack of food and fuel. Violent clashes in the region between Druze and Bedouin groups left more than 1,000 people dead. There are allegations of executions carried out by all sides, while survivors told Channel 4 News that government troops massacred civilians. Media are now restricted from entering the city but before then we spent four days there, hearing from those who both witnessed and took part in the fighting. A warning, this report contains distressing testimony and images from the start.
