Suweida shows the world what needs to change in Syria

In Suweida, Israel went from waging a shadow war to one of overt engagement. In recent years, it had struck Iranian and Hezbollah sites, personnel, and convoys in Syria, and in the hours after Assad fell in December, it launched 700 strikes against the Syrian military, destroying assets and infrastructure. In April, Israel struck government forces in the Druze area of Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, after reports of clashes.

In Suweida, however, Israel escalated its involvement substantially, bombing the Ministry of Defence five times, targeting the Syrian presidential palace, and directing explicit threats at President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who has American support. It is the first time that Israel has intervened directly in the internal affairs of Syria.

Israeli forces advanced south of Damascus, after breaching the buffer zone in the Golan and seizing key hills and mountain positions, and Israel worked with the Americans over the terms of the ceasefire, including the type and location of heavy weapons. As Damascus withdrew under Israeli fire, the fighting in Suweida essentially pitted the Druze against Bedouins and Sunni Arab tribes.

Violations committed

The conflict took on a new cross-border dimension, given Druze ties extend to Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, leading analysts to warn about power vacuums being an invitation to IS and other jihadists.

Without government forces, major violations have been committed in Suweida and its surrounding countryside. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that, at the time of writing, around 1,120 people have been killed in recent days, including 427 Druze fighters and 297 Druze civilians, some having been summarily executed, along with 354 government forces and 21 Bedouin.

The hatred that exists between the Druze and the Bedouin is palpable and was seen in the conduct of fighters, with the elderly, religious, women, and children all humiliated. Corpses were dragged through the streets and displayed on vehicles. Between these 'enemy neighbours,' wounds and grievances run deep, vendettas are held, memories are long, and vengeance is cyclical.

The bloodshed underscored the urgency of accountability and the need for measures to stop and prevent such violations. Rubio said Damascus needed to "hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities, including those in their own ranks". Likewise, investigations into the March violence against the Alawite community need to get to the bottom of what happened and identify the perpetrators.

Needing stability

Events in Suweida have underscored to Damascus's international allies the importance of reconstituting the national army—organising it into disciplined units and removing foreign fighters—amid growing concerns about the coherence of command and adherence to military structure. In this context, the US has told the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the north-east not to exploit the events in Suweida to alter the military balance in the country.

On the contrary, the SDF have been told to take "concrete steps towards integration within a unified Syria." Indeed, there is growing support for a unifying national process, one that bridges internal divides under the authority of the state, fosters stability, attracts investment, and helps create the conditions for sanctions relief. But events in Suweida have put Syria's internal or domestic issues on the international agenda.

Until recently, Syria's internal affairs were being largely left to Syrians to sort out, while international actors focused on strategic issues such as removing Iran and Hezbollah, dismantling Captagon networks, and exploring peace with Israel. Despite the pain of Suweida, these events may offer a chance to change trajectory.

The starting point must be an enduring ceasefire and the end of vendettas in southern Syria. Suweida needs and end to both the gunfire and the external interference. No more competing stakes and spheres of influence. Syria cannot be abandoned to obscurity, as has happened in Libya, Sudan, and elsewhere.