6 days ago
Syrian American Druze killed in Sweida
BEIRUT — A U.S. citizen was killed last week during sectarian clashes between pro-government Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze factions in Syria's Sweida province, the State Department confirmed Monday.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, more than 1,260 people have been killed in these clashes, which began July 13 between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin fighters in Sweida, backed by government forces deployed in the city by order of Damascus' authorities.
The latest toll provided by the NGO Monday evening reports 505 Druze fighters and 298 Druze civilians killed, including 194 "summarily executed by members of the Defense and Interior Ministries."
The toll also includes 408 members of government security forces and 35 Sunni Bedouins, including three civilians "summarily executed by Druze fighters." In addition, 15 government soldiers were killed in Israeli airstrikes, according to the Observatory.
'He was supposed to return to the USA at the end of the month'
Among the civilian victims is the Syrian American, Houssam Saraya, a 35-year-old Druze. Contacted by the Washington-based media outlet al-Monitor, a State Department official confirmed Monday the death of an American citizen in Sweida, without identifying him.
"We are deeply saddened by the death of Houssam Saraya, tragically executed along with other members of his family in Syria," Oklahoma Republican Senator James Lankford, where the victim had resided in the U.S., confirmed on X.
"We pray for his family, friends and the entire Druze community mourning this senseless loss," he added.
Photos of Houssam Saraya's American passport also circulated widely on social media, as did videos purportedly showing his execution in a public square in Sweida.
In footage posted online on Wednesday, July 16 — the day after Syrian government forces entered the city — a man in his thirties is seen being forced to walk in a single line down a street with seven other people. They are under threat from armed men, some dressed in military fatigues.
Moments later, the group is coldly executed by bursts of automatic gunfire in Techrine Square, downtown. The gunmen shout "Allahu akbar" as the executions take place.
The military uniforms worn by some of the assailants appear to indicate they are members of government forces. A source close to the family confirmed the authenticity of these videos to L'Orient Today.
The person said that several members of the Saraya family, including Houssam, were indeed killed in Techrine Square on July 16. Among the eight people lined up at the time of the execution, one survived, she said.
Contacted by phone Tuesday by L'Orient Today, a relative of the victim, who requested anonymity, said Houssam Saraya received American citizenship five years ago after earning his master's degree at Oklahoma Christian University in 2016.
He subsequently founded an online teaching platform aimed at Syrian students. This relative confirmed that other Saraya family members were also executed, including Houssam's brother, Karim, and father, Ghassan, the only one holding American nationality.
Other victims were named Walid, Yehya, Ali and Ismail, all cousins of the Saraya family. "They (the assailants) stormed the house Wednesday morning and forcibly took all the men there. We found their bodies the next day and then buried them," the relative said.
"Houssam returned to Sweida about a year ago to care for his sick father. He was supposed to return to the United States at the end of the month," she said.
On Friday, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk stated there are "credible reports" that Syrian government forces, as well as Druze and local Bedouin fighters, committed "arbitrary executions, abductions and looting" during this latest wave of large-scale violence that has bereaved Syria since the fall of the Assad regime last December.
'Bring the perpetrators to justice'
This third round of sectarian bloodshed, after the attack in March against the Alawite community on the Syrian coast, and then (again) the Druze community in late April on the outskirts of Damascus, has led to the forced displacement of more than 128,500 people since it began July 13.
A fragile truce, supported by the United States, took effect July 17 after Damascus withdrew its forces from the southern province, where a precarious calm has since returned this weekend after security was officially handed over to local Druze factions by the Syrian government led by Ahmad al-Sharaa.
On Saturday, the U.S. envoy for Lebanon and Syria, Tom Barrack, also announced a cease-fire between Syria and Israel, which had carried out airstrikes targeting Syrian security forces in Sweida as well as several government buildings in Damascus.
For his part, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Damascus to "mobilize its forces to prevent violent jihadists from committing massacres" and to "bring those found guilty of atrocities to justice, including within [its] own ranks."
