In July 2025, a robbery on the Damascus-Sweida highway allegedly driven by competition over smuggling routes, lead to retaliatory kidnappings and clashes between Druze militias and Bedouin fighters, escalating into the widely reported violence in Sweida governorate1238 (see also section 2.13.2. Territorial control and main armed actors). The escalation included the mobilisation of tribes across the country, allegedly in support of the Bedouins.1239
The governorate was described as ‘volatile’,1240 with the violence in Sweida primarily driven by the transitional government’s attempts to assert control and disarm the region and resistance from Druze groups to these demands. The security situation was characterised by ‘sudden, large-scale confrontations and heavy casualties’.1241 Despite the ceasefire being in effect,1242 sporadic1243 clashes between Druze fighters/National Guard forces and internal security forces,1244 continued into May 2026.1245 Some resulted in civilian casualties.1246 The launch of a suicide drone by Druze militias targeting transitional government forces in western Sweida in mid-December 2025 was reported as the first indication that the militias had acquired this new capacity.1247 In mid-February 2026, the transitional government increasingly pressured Sweida governorate, including through threats to intervene militarily, to integrate into the Syrian state.1248 Late February 2026, detainees were exchanged1249 between the transitional government and Druze authorities following the July 2025 clashes.1250 Additionally, talks between pro-government Druze militia leader Suleiman Abdel Baqi and US representatives to re-integrate Sweida governorate into the state were reported.1251 Renewed clashes between Druze armed men and transitional government forces were reported on 19 March 2026, described by Etana Syria as ‘the most significant’ clashes since July 2025,1252 with Israel carrying out airstrikes against Syrian military infrastructure for the first time since then.1253 Clashes between Druze armed men and transitional government forces during the reporting period occurred for example in frontlines along Al-Mansouria, near Al-Wulgha,1254 Tel Hadid, Al-Ara, Al-Majdal and Al-Mazraa.1255 They included the use of drones,1256 comprising suicide drones,1257 mortars,1258 heavy machine guns,1259 and shelling.1260 Inter-factional clashes between Druze armed groups were also reported.1261
In late April 2026, Syria Weekly reported that the security situation in Sweida governorate had notably deteriorated in the preceding months. The report noted an increase in attacks on critics of Hikmat Al-Hijri's authorities by members of Druze militias.1262 According to a New Arab article from April 2026, Al-Hijri instructed supporters of the transitional government to leave Sweida governorate in a video message. The article also noted that, according to the governor of Sweida, individuals who had expressed support for the transitional government had been threatened with death by Sweida militias, and that one prominent Al-Hijri opponent had been killed in Sweida city the same month.1263 The killing by gunshot of a Druze poet and activist in Sweida, who had criticised local separatist militias, was reported in December 2025.1264 Syria Weekly also reported in late April 2026 increased fighting among rival Druze factions and violence perpetrated by Druze militias to assert control over public sector bodies allegedly influenced by the transitional government.1265 Other sources also reported detentions1266 and killings1267 by National Guard Forces of persons opposing Al-Hijri, including Druze notables.1268 In a report from mid-May 2026, the UN Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria stated that Sweida governorate was experiencing ‘persistent political and security instability’. According to the report, weekly demonstrations demanding the release of detainees, greater autonomy, and the return of displaced persons have been taking place in the governorate, alongside ongoing infighting within the Druze community.1269 Sources also reported incidents of violence perpetrated by unknown people during the reference period,1270 among which abductions,1271 including of children.1272 In December 2025, MEE noted that abductions on the Damascus-Sweida highway were a regular occurrence.1273
During the reporting period, sporadic Jordanian airstrikes on Sweida governorate, allegedly targeting arms caches and organised crime cells, particularly those involved in drug production and smuggling,1274 were reported.1275
- 1238
Rose, C., Illicit economies play big role in Syria’s post-Assad flashpoints, Al Majalla, 2 August 2025, url
- 1239
UN Human Rights Council, International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law violations committed during the July 2025 violence in Suwayda, Syria; Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/61/CRP.7, 27 March 2026, url, para. 42; MEE, ‘We got rid of a tyrant’: Syria’s tumultuous first year without Assad, 8 December 2025, url; Enab Baladi, Arrests in Suwayda to “foil a coup” against al-Hijri, 30 November 2025, url
- 1240
MEE, ‘We got rid of a tyrant’: Syria’s tumultuous first year without Assad, 8 December 2025, url
- 1241
Al-Jabassini, A., Security Transformations in Southern Syria: Authority, armed networks, and foreign intervention, Arab Reform Initiative, 4 December 2025, url, p. 18
- 1242
SOHR, Ceasefire violations | Five civilians injured in indiscriminate bombardment on Al-Suwaidaa city, 4 May 2026, url; Enab Baladi, Four killed in clashes between Syrian Interior Ministry forces and Suwayda factions, 23 December 2025, url
- 1243
UN Human Rights Council, International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law violations committed during the July 2025 violence in Suwayda, Syria; Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/61/CRP.7, 27 March 2026, url, para. 52
- 1244
Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 29
- 1245
SOHR, Military escalation | Violent clashes erupt between “National Guards” and government forces in Al-Suwaidaa, 9 May 2026, url; Etana Syria, Brief: Recent developments in south-west Syria, 8 April 2026, url; Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 29; Enab Baladi, Four killed in clashes between Syrian Interior Ministry forces and Suwayda factions, 23 December 2025, url
- 1246
SOHR, Ceasefire violations | Five civilians injured in indiscriminate bombardment on Al-Suwaidaa city, 4 May 2026, url; Lister, C., Syria Weekly: March 17-24, 2026, Syria Weekly, 24 March 2026, url; Enab Baladi, Four killed in clashes between Syrian Interior Ministry forces and Suwayda factions, 23 December 2025, url; SOHR, Two civilians injured | Governmental forces and “National Guard Forces” trade fire in Al-Suwaidaa countryside, 6 November 2025, url
- 1247
Lister, C., Syria Weekly Conflict & Security: December 9-30, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 December 2025, url
- 1248
ISW and CTP, Iran Update, February 19, 2026, 19 February 2026, url
- 1249
SNHR, No less than 210 Cases of Arbitrary Arrests and Detentions in the First Quarter of 2026, 5 April 2026, url, p. 9
- 1250
ICRC, Syria: ICRC facilitates release and transfer of 86 detainees between Damascus and Sweida, 26 February 2026, url; Reuters, Syrian government forces and Druze factions exchange prisoners in Sweida, 26 February 2026, url
- 1251
ISW and CTP, Iran Update, February 27, 2026, 27 February 2026, url
- 1252
Etana Syria, Brief: Clashes in western Suwayda, 28 March 2026, url
- 1253
UN Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria Claudio Cordone, Briefing to the Security Council, 22 April 2026, url, p. 1
- 1254
Lister, C., Syria Weekly: March 17-24, 2026, Syria Weekly, 24 March 2026, url
- 1255
Lister, C., Syria Weekly Conflict & Security: December 9-30, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 December 2025, url
- 1256
Etana Syria, Brief: Clashes in western Suwayda, 28 March 2026, url; SOHR, Military escalation | Two drones attack vicinity of checkpoint of “National Guards” in Al-Suwaidaa, 10 May 2026, url
- 1257
SOHR, Ongoing escalation | Members of National Guard shoit down kamikaze drone of government forces in Northwestern Al-Suwaidaa, 6 May 2026, url; Lister, C., Syria Weekly Conflict & Security: December 9-30, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 December 2025, url
- 1258
Al Jazeera, Israel says it hit Syrian army camps in the south after Druze ‘attacked’, 20 March 2026, url
- 1259
SOHR, Military escalation | Violent clashes erupt between “National Guards” and government forces in Al-Suwaidaa, 9 May 2026, url; Enab Baladi, Four killed in clashes between Syrian Interior Ministry forces and Suwayda factions, 23 December 2025, url
- 1260
SOHR, Ceasefire violations | Five civilians injured in indiscriminate bombardment on Al-Suwaidaa city, 4 May 2026, url
- 1261
UN Human Rights Council, International Human Rights Law and International Humanitarian Law violations committed during the July 2025 violence in Suwayda, Syria; Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, A/HRC/61/CRP.7, 27 March 2026, url, para. 52; Lister, C., Data Update (October 14-28, 2025), Syria Weekly, 30 October 2025, url; Lister, C., Syria Weekly: October 21-28, Syria Weekly, 28 October 2025, url; Lister, C., Syria Weekly: September 23-29, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 September 2025, url
- 1262
Lister, C., Syria Data Update (April 14-28, 2026), Syria Weekly, 29 April 2026, url
- 1263
New Arab (The), Rival of Druze leader Hikmat al-Hiri gunned down in Syria's Suweida, 15 April 2026, url
- 1264
New Arab (The), Druze poet killed in Syria's Suweida after criticising local militias, 16 December 2025, url
- 1265
Lister, C., Syria Data Update (April 14-28, 2026), Syria Weekly, 29 April 2026, url
- 1266
Enab Baladi, Arrests in Suwayda to “foil a coup” against al-Hijri, 30 November 2025, url
- 1267
Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 29; Lister, C., Syria Weekly Conflict & Security: December 9-30, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 December 2025, url; SANA, Armed militia abducts and tortures to death Sheikh Raed al-Matani in Sweida, 2 December 2025, url; New Arab (The), Second Druze cleric dies after detention in Suweida, local reports say, 3 December 2025, url
- 1268
Enab Baladi, Arrests in Suwayda to “foil a coup” against al-Hijri, 30 November 2025, url; New Arab (The), Second Druze cleric dies after detention in Suweida, local reports say, 3 December 2025, url
- 1269
OSES, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria – Claudio Cordone – Briefing to the Security Council, 15 May 2026, url, paras. 11-12
- 1270
SOHR, Indiscriminate gunfire | Two persons injured in Al-Suwaidaa city, 12 April 2026, url; SOHR, Uknown attackers | Young man killed by gunfire in Al-Suwaidaa City, 18 October 2025, url
- 1271
SOHR, Working in agricultural land | Two civilians from Nijran west of Al-Suwaidaa kidnapped by armed group, 11 March 2026, url; Belgium, CGRS-CEDOCA, Syrië: Veiligheidssituatie (ACLED), 31 March 2026, url, p. 29
- 1272
SOHR, Showing signs of torture | Child found injured in Al-Suwaidaa Hospital, 8 April 2026, url
- 1273
MEE, ‘We got rid of a tyrant’: Syria’s tumultuous first year without Assad, 8 December 2025, url
- 1274
OSES, Deputy Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria – Claudio Cordone – Briefing to the Security Council, 15 May 2026, url, para. 15; ISW and CTP, Iran Update, January 2, 2026, 2 January 2026, url
- 1275
Jerusalem Post (The), Jordan is enforcing a red line in Syria via airstrikes – analysis, 3 May 2026, url; Lister, C., Syria Weekly Conflict & Security: December 9-30, 2025, Syria Weekly, 30 December 2025, url; Al Jazeera, Jordan strikes drug, arms smugglers in Syria border region: Reports, 25 December 2025, url