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‘They're erasing our identity': Suwayda native in Erbil pleads for end to violence
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Yara Saad* moved to Erbil full of hope for her future and plans to support her family in Suwayda, the Druze-majority province in southern Syria, but all her dreams have been ripped to shreds as violent clashes between armed Druze groups and Bedouin tribes tear through her hometown. Her father was injured and she fears he is dead. She has spent every waking hour of the past week glued to the news from home.
'It has been six or seven days now, we haven't been able to sleep because of the news,' Saad told Rudaw English on Saturday.
Clashes erupted on Sunday between the Druze and Sunni Bedouin tribes. The Syrian army intervened and took control of most of the province, which had been under Druze rule since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in December. A ceasefire was reached with US mediation and after Israel carried out strikes in support of the Druze. On Wednesday, interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa announced state forces were pulling out of the province.
The violence, however, continues and the death toll rises daily, now topping 900, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. A new ceasefire was announced on Saturday and includes the redeployment of state forces to Suwayda.
Saad, 21, and her family are Druze, a faith that is an offshoot of Shia Islam. She said her relatives contacted her to say her father had been shot but was still alive. However, she expressed little hope in their assurances, fearing the worst amid the chaos.
"I heard he was named on a list of those killed that was posted online," she said.
Conditions are dire in the province, with little access to basic necessities such as food, healthcare, and electricity.
'There were no hospitals to transfer him to. All hospitals were completely out of service. The only news that came said he was injured, so for sure, he was martyred, because there were no hospitals available at all,' she said.
That was not the only devastating news Saad received. Two of her uncles, who had been fighting to protect civilians, were also killed.
Saad provided Rudaw English with videos that had been posted on TikTok by Bedouin accounts, showing those who had been killed. Among dozens of bodies, she said she recognized one of her uncles.
'We only found out by chance from the photos being shared online that this was my uncle who died, and this was my cousin who died,' she said.
She also recognized childhood friends among the videos of dead bodies circulating on social media, as she received word that another uncle who was injured had succumbed to his wounds.
'My other uncle was wounded. He also died. All of our friends died,' she said.
Saad described the chaos that unfolded as the fighting escalated, forcing her family to flee their home. 'First, they said there were clashes and that rockets and drones were being fired,' she said.
The family fled their village and went into the city, believing they would be safer there. However, as clashes reached the urban center, they were forced to return to the countryside, moving repeatedly in search of safety.
'Once General Security [state forces] entered the city, they went back to the villages,' she said. 'Then they [state forces] started sweeping areas, clearing out the people there, of course, after killing people in their homes.'
She said her relatives moved from place to place, trying to stay ahead of the violence.
According to the United Nations, at least 87,000 people have been displaced in Suwayda since Sunday.
'Civilian infrastructure in As-Sweida Governorate, including homes, medical facilities, and communal spaces, has come under threat amid ongoing hostilities, with reports of targeted damage to private property such as houses, vehicles, hospitals, churches, and public areas,' the UN's humanitarian office said on Saturday, adding that electricity, water, and telecommunications have been cut off after being damaged in airstrikes and clashes.
The UN is working with humanitarian partners to deliver aid, 'as security allows.'
In her family's village, Saad said government forces set fire to many homes. 'They burned my father's house and my mother's house. Of course, the neighbor's house next to it was burned too.' With much of the village now reportedly destroyed, Saad mourns not only the loss of her family's home, but also the memories of her childhood that went with it.
'I'm far from my family, I don't know what's happening. Even my family doesn't know what their destiny is,' Saad said.
Staying in touch with her family has been difficult. 'The power's out. There's no network, no anything,' she said. 'As long as I'm far away and watching the news online, it hurts me more than if I were with them, especially since I can't do anything for them.'
'Electricity has been out for six or seven days. The water is contaminated. There's no internet, no communication networks,' she said. With no reliable information, families are forced to move from place to place, often with no idea if the roads are safe.
She pleaded for urgent humanitarian aid. 'If only they would open a humanitarian crossing, just so the injured could get treatment, and only medicine, water, and food could enter. We don't want anything else. For now, we just want the war to stop.'
The Syrian government on Saturday announced details of the ceasefire, the second phase of which includes opening humanitarian corridors between Suwayda and neighbouring Daraa province.
The first phase is the deployment of internal security forces to de-escalate tensions and secure key routes, and the third is the gradual reactivation of state institutions and full restoration of law and order, according to Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa.
The clashes in Suwayda is the latest sectarian violence to rock Syria since the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Dozens were killed in April and May in violence between armed Druze groups and government forces. In March, hundreds were killed in clashes in the Alawite-majority coastal region.
Saad rejected claims of longstanding sectarian tensions in Suwayda.
'Suwayda was always secure. The Bedouins had been living with us for decades. There was never anything between us,' she said.
'We never had any sectarianism until Jolani came in, supposedly to resolve issues and to represent Syria, claiming he didn't want division,' she added.
Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the nom de guerre of Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharra. He led the Islamist militia group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that spearheaded the offensive to topple Bashar.
Minority groups in Syria are concerned about their future under Sharaa's interim government, which has prioritized Islamic jurisprudence and centralized power.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the ongoing clashes began when members of a Bedouin tribe attacked and robbed a Druze man.
Saad said the conflict quickly escalated with the intervention of government forces who she said entered Suwayda not to resolve tensions but to stoke them. 'They started kidnapping people from our side so a conflict would arise between us and the Bedouins,' she said.
What followed, she claimed, was a campaign of home raids, killings including of religious leaders, and acts of public humiliation. 'They shaved the mustaches of sheikhs. They humiliated the elders,' she said.
Information Minister Mustafa defended the government's response to the clashes, saying the intention was 'to protect civilians and limit the expansion of the conflict.'
'The state understands the unique characteristics of each region and seeks negotiated and political solutions, but it is keen to restrict the possession of weapons to the state and integrate all organizations into the army,' he said. 'The absence of the state has proven to be the problem, and its presence is the solution.'
Saad voiced deep concern over what she described as a systematic effort to erase minority communities in Syria, drawing parallels with past atrocities. 'The idea is that they are exterminating minorities, just like what happened on the coast. The same thing is happening now in Suwayda. Are you seeing how it's repeating?' she said.
'These terrorists, they're killers. Their only goal is murder. They have no other aim,' she said. 'It's a sectarian war. They're pushing things so Syria gets divided… They're erasing our identity.'
*Her name has been changed to protect her identity and that of her family in Suwayda.
