Sweida, southern Syria – A wave of displacement swept across Sweida province on Thursday, as Bedouin tribes fled their homes following violent retaliatory attacks carried out by local factions.
Local sources told +963 that several field executions were committed against Bedouin civilians, and multiple homes were set ablaze in different rural parts of the province.
Syria’s state-run Ikhbariya TV also reported that “dozens of families have fled western and eastern Sweida after outlaws carried out retaliatory attacks, including setting homes on fire.”
The escalation follows Wednesday’s announcement by Syria’s Ministry of Defense that its forces had been fully withdrawn from Sweida. The withdrawal is part of an agreement signed with Druze religious leaders and community figures, headed by Sheikh Youssef Jerboaa.
The move came after three days of intense military operations triggered by the entry of Defense and Interior Ministry forces into the Druze prominent province; an intervention that left hundreds of civilians and military personnel dead or wounded.
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In a televised address on Thursday, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa stated that the government has decided to assign security responsibilities in Sweida to local factions and Druze leaders.
“This decision stems from our deep awareness of the threat to national unity and the need to avoid sliding into a new, wide-scale war that could derail our national recovery,” he said.
“We were faced with two choices,” he added, “either open war with the Israeli entity at the cost of our Druze population’s safety, or to allow Druze leaders a chance to reclaim reason and prioritize national interests over those seeking to tarnish the reputation of our honorable mountain community.”
Read more: Syrian President Assigns Local Druze Factions to Secure Sweida, Accuses Israel of Destabilization
Earlier in the day, the Spiritual Leadership of the Druze Muslim Community in Syria issued a public appeal to Jordan’s King Abdullah II, calling for the opening of a humanitarian border crossing between Sweida and Jordan.
In a statement posted to Facebook, the spiritual authority urged, “His Majesty the King to direct the opening of a border crossing between Sweida and Jordan,” adding that re-opening roads to Kurdish regions was also a humanitarian necessity “in these critical moments.”
The statement described the violence as a “heinous massacre” committed by a terrorist group targeting unarmed civilians.
“This tragedy struck us like lightning,” it read. “It inflicted indescribable pain and bled the very soil of our land, yet we know who we are, and we know our roots.”
Declaring Sweida a “disaster-stricken province burdened by its wounds,” the spiritual authority announced general mourning and called for public solidarity:
“We urge everyone to comfort the families of the fallen, support medical teams, and allow documentation groups to carry out their work.”
