Syrian government forces and local Bedouin and Druze armed groups are responsible for grave abuses during clashes in Syria's southern Sweida governorate in July 2025, Human Rights Watch said today. Syrian authorities should hold those responsible for abuses on all sides accountable, including by appropriately prosecuting military commanders and senior officials who ordered abuses or are liable as a matter of command responsibility for war crimes.
A checkpoint confrontation between Bedouin and Druze armed groups on July 12 in Sweida governorate escalated into several days of armed clashes. On July 14, government security forces shelled Druze positions in support of Bedouin armed groups, while the Druze responded with attacks against government and Bedouin forces. Hundreds of civilians were killed and injured, and tens of thousands were displaced. While the situation has improved, those displaced still face difficult living conditions.
"The Syrian authorities need to demonstrate they are a government for all Syrians by pursuing accountability for atrocities in Sweida at the highest levels and for all involved parties," said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Without full accountability for these abuses, the horrors of the past will be repeated."
Sweida governorate's population is predominantly Druze with a Bedouin minority. While these groups have coexisted for decades, the checkpoint confrontation on July 12 triggered fighting between the groups. Government forces intervened to support Bedouin groups, escalating tensions between the government and the Druze community.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 19 victims and witnesses of abuses, including 14 Druze and 5 Bedouin residents of Sweida, and verified corroborating photographs and videos. Researchers also spoke with three local activists, a Syrian journalist who entered Sweida alongside government forces, and three sources with direct knowledge of aid restrictions.
Witnesses said that government security forces committed summary killings and destroyed civilian property, while allied Bedouin armed groups carried out kidnappings and looting. Druze armed groups attacked and arbitrarily detained civilians. Human Rights Watch documented 86 apparently unlawful killings, including 67 Druze and 19 Bedouin civilians.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that over 93,000 people were displaced within a week of the clashes, and 187,000 by late July, causing critical shortages of food, shelter, and medicine.
Syria's interim government has failed to take adequate steps to impartially investigate abuses by all sides during the fighting, Human Rights Watch said. On July 16, Syrian authorities condemned the Sweida "violations" as "criminal and unlawful" and pledged to investigate. Between July 17 and 22, the Syrian presidency, military police, and Defense Ministry issued statements promising accountability and announced a committee to investigate "shocking violations" by an "unknown group in military attire."
A government body was tasked with reporting within three months. On November 16, the committee announced that it had requested a two-month extension and would publish the report by the end of the year. The investigation has yet to conclude.
Since the clashes, humanitarian support for civilians in need has been severely impeded due to government restrictions on access and continuing insecurity. Though access restrictions have since been reduced, bureaucratic delays and obstacles to distribution and coordination within the governorate persist, two informed sources reported. An aid worker said that dozens of people remain missing or abducted, with families having received no information about their whereabouts or condition.
On August 21, UN experts reported that attacks by local militia, transitional authorities and affiliated armed groups on just three villages in Sweida resulted in the killing of about 1,000 people, including 539 identified Druze civilians. The full extent of civilian casualties has not been reported because a significant number of bodies may remain in houses where recovery teams have not had authorization to enter.
On October 2, the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria entered Sweida to investigate the July abuses, the first visit by international human rights experts. They have since made further visits to the area.
International humanitarian law, known as the laws of war, is applicable to the fighting between government forces and armed groups in Sweida. Common article 3 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary laws of war prohibit attacks on civilians, summary executions, outrages upon personal dignity, and destruction and looting of civilian property. Serious laws of war violations committed with criminal intent are war crimes.
Military forces under the Syria's transitional government have previously been implicated in grave abuses against minority populations, notably Alawi Syrians in March 2025. Government investigations into alleged crimes absolved top officials due to lack of evidence of direct orders to commit abuses. However, commanders and senior officials may be criminally liable as a matter of command responsibility for war crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew or should have known about such crimes and did not prevent them or punish those responsible.
The Syrian government should ensure impartial investigations into the July as well as the March clashes of senior military and civilian officials, not just low-level personnel as has been the case thus far. In January 2026, renewed clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces resulted in 23 deaths, and the displacement of over 100,000 people. These latest clashes between government forces and minority-led armed groups underscore the need for comprehensive security sector reform and accountability for grave abuses.
If the authorities are unwilling or unable to conduct prosecutions that meet international fair trial standards, the UN and concerned governments should step in to support accountability efforts. Syrian authorities should pursue genuine security sector reform by vetting abusive personnel, enforcing discipline, and bringing armed groups under accountable state authority or by demobilizing them.
"The government's acknowledgment of atrocities isn't enough if those leading and directing abusive forces are shielded from justice," Coogle said. "Without senior-level accountability and structural reform of the security sector, Syria will continue to face cycles of violence and reprisals."
Following the clashes on July 12-14, on July 15, Syrian Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra said military units would begin handing over neighborhoods to Internal Security Forces, the country's security and intelligence agencies, once "combing operations" ended and that military police had been deployed across the city to monitor troop conduct. Syrian government forces began withdrawing from Sweida on July 16.
Meanwhile, Bedouin armed groups from across Syria mobilized on Sweida's eastern and southern edges. The Syrian presidency referred to Druze fighters as "outlaw groups" and praised the nationwide mobilization of Bedouin fighters around Sweida. On July 19, the presidency thanked the Bedouin forces but called on them to withdraw.
On July 16, Israeli forces conducted airstrikes against Syrian military positions. Under an agreement announced by the Syrian government on July 20, Bedouin fighters and families were relocated outside the governorate, increasing displacement and tensions over prospects for safe return. On August 23, about 30 Druze factions in Sweida united under the National Guard Forces, pledging allegiance to Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the Druze community's spiritual leader.
Abductions of humanitarian workers have disrupted relief efforts. The media reported that on July 16, unidentified armed men abducted Hamza al-Amareen, the head of a White Helmets emergency center, while he was responding to a call for assistance in Sweida city; his whereabouts remain unknown. On August 13, five aid workers were kidnapped in eastern Daraa governorate while transporting assistance to Sweida. The Interior Ministry later said the men were freed but gave no details about those responsible or any action taken.
Abuses by Syrian Government Forces and Bedouin Armed Groups
Clashes between Bedouin and Druze armed groups in early July prompted the government to deploy units from the Defense and Interior Ministries to Sweida governorate on July 14. Human Rights Watch documented abuses by government forces and Bedouin armed groups against Druze civilians.
A local journalist who entered Sweida with Syrian forces said that Bedouin armed groups entered the city first, followed by army units, and then General Security police forces, including units from neighboring Daraa. He said he witnessed looting, theft, and arson, including by General Security personnel, soldiers beating a detainee, and five arrests of unarmed people in civilian clothing. He also saw about 15 bodies that did not appear to be security force personnel. The journalist also said he saw non-Syrian fighters in civilian clothing moving through Sweida city. One of them threatened to shoot him if he filmed, he said.
Summary Killings
Human Rights Watch documented seven incidents of summary killings between July 14 and 19 in which government forces and affiliated militia killed at least 54 Druze civilians, including children. Many of these killings took place in or near the victims' homes.
Abu Saadeh-Baayni Family
On July 15, armed men in military and security uniforms stormed the home of Manar Abu Saadeh, a lawyer, her husband, Abdullah Ismail al-Baayni, and their sons Mazen and Omar, both university students in Sweida city. Her brother, Emad Hamad Abu Saadeh, said that Manar had called him earlier that day and said that armed men had come to their home demanding 20 million Syrian pounds (US$2,000), and threatened to kill them when they did not pay.
Around 11:00 p.m., Emad said, he received a call from his nephew, whom he quoted as saying, "Uncle, they broke the door and are coming for us, if anyone can help, please come." The line cut off. Emad said he immediately tried to reach local contacts for help, but no one could approach the area because of heavy shelling, checkpoints, and armed clashes.
The next morning, at about 10:00 a.m., Emad said, Manar phoned him, saying the attackers had returned, killed her husband, and set the house on fire. "We're inside. We can't breathe, there's too much smoke," he quoted her as saying before the line went dead.
When Emad finally reached the house the following day, he found it partially destroyed and still smoldering. "The house was burned and clearly hit by medium-caliber shells, you could tell from the large holes in the walls," he said. "They burned it with car tires and grenades; we even found one unexploded. The scene was horrific." Inside, he discovered the charred remains of Manar, Abdullah, and their two sons. Human Rights Watch could not determine whether they died as a result of the fire or were killed beforehand.
Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated multiple videos consistent with Emad's account. Footage filmed by the Horan Free League, a news organization in Daraa governate, and shared on social media on July 16 shows military vehicles and armed men in Syrian military-style uniforms in Tishreen Square in the center of Sweida city, and, in another video clip, men in military uniforms and black uniforms repeatedly firing at the family's home from close range.
In the video, journalists accompany the uniformed men as they access the grounds of the building, where flames and smoke are visible. A shoulder badge showing the seal of the Prophet Mohammed, usually indicative of the Islamic State, is visible on the black uniform of one of the men carrying an AK-style assault rifle. The video also shows a man in military uniform with a blue seal identical to the old insignia of the Islamist armed group Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham, the group that now controls the Syrian government. One video recorded by Emad shows the immediate aftermath of the attack, including the charred remains of at least two people inside the destroyed home. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm their identities.
Emad said that no emergency services could reach the site due to armed clashes and road closures, and that the family's bodies remained in the house for four days before relatives buried them there. Witnesses said the attackers spoke in Syrian accents, identified themselves as Ministry of Defense and General Security, and appeared in videos uploaded that same night wearing matching uniforms and using the same vehicles and weapons visible in the footage of the assault.
Badr Guesthouse
On July 16, armed men stormed the Badr family guesthouse in central Sweida city, killing at least 16 people, including members of the Badr, al-Shaqqi, and al-Lous families, and wounding several others.
A witness, Anwar Asaad al-Awaj, said that about 30 women, 19 men, and 10 children had taken shelter in the guesthouse amid heavy shelling when the attackers, some wearing military uniforms, entered shouting religious slogans and calling the Druze "infidels" and "pigs." He said the gunmen threw grenades inside before entering and firing. They then forced the men outside, beat and insulted them, and executed them one by one at close range.
Al-Awaj said he saw the gunmen attack those inside the guesthouse. They shot his cousin Ziyad Badr, his neighbor Jawad al-Shaqqi, and a guest in the house, Kinan al-Lous, killing them all. The gunmen stabbed and shot others at close range, including his nephew Omar al-Shaqi, who had an intellectual disability. When the gunmen turned to Anwar al-Awaj, one of the attackers demanded his identification, calling him a "pig" and threatening to kill him, then stabbing him in the chest with a bayonet. "I wished for death to come quickly," he said. He said the attackers beat his 16-year-old son until he collapsed, but he survived.
In one video from the site, shared on social media on July 24 and that Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated, eight unarmed men, including some older men, are sitting and talking to the camera. One of the men says, "We want life to be not about killing people." A man dressed in a black uniform holding an AK-style assault rifle is visible. A second verified video from the same location shows the bodies of eight men dead on the floor surrounded by pools of blood, some lying face down with their arms over their heads. Three of the men are evident in both videos. Witnesses said the bodies remained overnight before neighbors dared to retrieve them the following morning.
Salim and Madaya Abu Fakher
On July 19, near al-Omran Roundabout in Sweida city, Bedouin fighters from a nearby neighborhood killed two Druze civilians. A resident, whose name is withheld for safety, said that according to his sister-in-law, Bedouin attackers shot dead his brother, Salim Majdi Abu Fakher, 50, and their mother, Madaya Abu Fakher, 75, inside the brother's home after the attackers broke in three times demanding gold. The resident said the fighters entered the neighborhood chanting sectarian slogans, while General Security forces simultaneously combed through nearby homes.
The resident said the attackers also tried to abduct two children during the attack but left them behind when Druze armed groups counterattacked. He later found his mother's and brother's bodies, the bullets appearing to have passed through her body into his. A video posted on Facebook on July 22 by Suwayda News has a man taking the video saying it shows the bodies of Salim and Madaya. While the video showing the bodies is blurred, it appears to show a dead man with a chest wound and a dead woman next to him on the ground.
Shuheib Family
A woman, name withheld for safety, said that armed men stormed the Shuheib family's home in Sweida city on July 19, separated the men from the women, and summarily killed the seven men in the garden while filming. She said the attackers identified themselves as members of General Security, wore black headbands, and insulted the victims with sectarian slurs such as "Druze pigs."
Among those killed were her husband, 60, her two sons, 30 and 27, her brother-in-law, 59, and his two teenage sons. She said the attackers forced her and her sister-in-law to walk past the bodies before they took the two women toward Izra', where they were later evacuated by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent. She said her family members were killed "only because they were Druze. … My heart went numb from the shock and pain for my sons."
Arnous Family
On July 16, armed men in military-style uniforms summarily killed four members of the al-Arnous family in central Sweida city. A verified video shows the brothers Muaz and Baraa Arnous, and their cousin Osama Arnous forced through the living room of an apartment onto the balcony. The gunmen order the men to jump from the balcony from the multi-story building, and then shot them as they jumped, while another man filmed. Muaz and Baraa's father, Bashar Qasim Arnous, was also found dead. A relative and two residents said that multiple armed groups entered the apartment building throughout the day, looting valuables, threatening residents, and firing indiscriminately. One witness said some assailants were masked, spoke with foreign accents, and claimed to be from General Security.
Radwan Guesthouse
On July 15, armed men stormed the Radwan guesthouse west of Sweida city, killing at least 14 men and wounding others. A wounded survivor said that more than 20 people were inside when the attackers entered, smashing furniture, destroying religious artifacts, and calling the victims "Druze infidels" then shooting them at close range.
A video circulated on social media that day and later verified by Human Rights Watch shows 10 bodies of men in civilian clothing lying in pools of blood in the guesthouse. Witnesses said the dead included Radwan family members and others who had sought shelter there.
Saraya Family
On July 16, government forces and affiliated fighters killed at least seven unarmed men, six of them members of the Saraya family, in Sweida's Tishreen Square after storming their home. A verified video shows the men, some in pajamas, being led into the square by armed men in military and security uniforms. One of the gunmen films himself selfie style, saying "God is great," as another uniformed man next to him smiles, as they lead the men away.
A second video shows the same seven men kneeling in the square with their hands on their heads as the assailants open fire in a sustained burst. A relative said the attackers had promised the men safety before taking them away. The victims, she said, included a farmer, a mill owner, and a university student, as well as Hussam Saraya, a dual Syrian and American citizen. They then looted the house, she said, and threatened the women and children with violence and sexual assault.
Attacks on Civilian Vehicles
Human Rights Watch documented three incidents in which government and allied fighters fired on civilian vehicles attempting to flee or pass checkpoints. At least 13 people were killed in these incidents.
In one incident, a Druze man from Sweida city said gunmen opened fire without warning on his family's car as they drove toward al-Urman on July 16. The vehicle came under fire from multiple directions, then crashed. The attack killed four members of his family-his father, wife, five-year-old son, and a cousin-and wounded several others. "I couldn't see how many people were shooting because the car's glass was shattering around us," he said. "My vision was blurred, and I was in shock."
In another case, a relative of a Druze family killed near the Rasas junction said she learned that government and General Security forces fired on two cars carrying her relatives as they tried to reach safety on July 16. Both vehicles were hit and caught fire, killing nine people, including children. Photographs reviewed by Human Rights Watch show the burned vehicles and an injured child receiving treatment in a hospital.
Looting and Destruction of Civilian Property
Eight residents said that security units and armed groups raided homes and businesses, looting valuables, and burning or destroying property, then withdrawing. Some reported that entire neighborhoods were ransacked, with civilians returning to find their homes stripped bare. UN experts reported over 33 villages burned.
A resident of the village of al-Mazraa, northwest of Sweida city, described widespread destruction following repeated assaults by government-affiliated forces and allied armed groups. "In our village, the shelling began from the outskirts, then they stormed houses, looted them, and set them on fire, especially the homes near the edges of the village," he said. "Someone I know went down to the village and told me that my house and shop had been burned." He said that at least 30 villagers he personally knew were killed, including two older relatives.
A Damascus resident whose displaced family lived also lived in al-Mazraa said, "I never imagined seeing my childhood home, my grandparents' home, turned to ash. The walls are black from the fire. They didn't leave us anything, not even our memories. They burned the olive groves, the grapevines. Everything we lived from." Photos showed her grandparents' empty, burned home.
Outrages Upon Personal Dignity
Human Rights Watch documented acts that amounted to identity-based outrages upon personal dignity. These included forced shaving of Druze men's mustaches and abusive language referencing Druze identity. Particularly among older or more traditional Druze men in Syria, mustaches have historically carried cultural and symbolic significance.
One video, verified by Human Rights Watch, showed a man in a beige uniform and a flak jacket cutting another man's mustache with scissors. Behind him, a man dressed in a similar uniform but with the red insignia of the military police, is looking on.
Participating Units
On July 14, the Syrian Defense Ministry circulated a statement on social media saying it had deployed "specialized military units" in coordination with the Interior Ministry responding to "bloody developments" in Sweida. Human Rights Watch obtained information from an informed source and analyzed open-source video material indicating that several Syrian military and security units participated in the military operation in Sweida.
Geolocated video footage shows a reported senior member of the 42nd Armored Brigade filming armored vehicles and troops in Sweida city on July 14. A verified photograph posted on Facebook on July 16 shows reported commanders of the 42nd Armored Brigade taken outside of a café in Sweida. Additionally, a video shared on Facebook on July 16 and analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows a uniformed soldier with the seal of the Prophet Mohammed on his uniform, who says he's part of the "Ansar al-Tawhid Brigades of the 82nd Division." He says they are about to enter Sweida to "cleanse" it of Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and his "followers."
Another video, posted on Facebook by a Syrian freelance journalist on July 14 and analyzed by Human Rights Watch, shows a convoy of pickup trucks and military vehicles with uniformed soldiers, including at least four vehicles marked by "52nd Division" on the front and "Special Forces" on the side. "Toward Sweida to eliminate outlaw groups," he posted in Arabic. Another video on social media that same day analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows the same vehicles stopped on a road, with the man filming saying, "may the pigs come to Sweida."
An informed source also identified the deployment of the 40th Division, based in southern Daraa, the 76th Division, under the command of former Hamzat division leader Saif al-Din Boulad, and the 80th Armored Division, led by Ahmad Rizq. The source said that other security agencies known to have participated include the 105th Brigade of the Republican Guard, the Military Police, and Internal Security forces (including General Security) under the Interior Ministry.
Abuses by Druze Armed Groups
Summary Killings
Human Rights Watch documented two mass killings apparently by Druze armed groups in the city of Shahba, north of Sweida city, on July 17. The victims were 19 Syrian Bedouin civilians, including children. Witnesses said that after the withdrawal of Syrian government forces, fighters affiliated with Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri's armed groups surrounded the area, issued a short deadline for residents to leave, and then opened fire.
Al-Qadees Family
One resident, Atif Rayan, said that when he returned home to evacuate his family, he found his wife, Nibal Mousa al-Qadees, 37, shot dead, and his three-year-old son, Ali, decapitated, most likely by an explosive weapon fragmentation.
He later located two of his daughters alive and found a third wounded by fragments. He said Druze fighters detained his family and other residents in a mosque for several days with minimal food and water, while fighters looted homes and prevented families from burying their dead until the following day.
Human Rights Watch reviewed one video and a photograph apparently showing the bodies of Nibal and Ali found in a rocky area. They show the bloodied bodies of a person in women's clothing and a small child. Both bodies lay in pools of apparently fresh blood. The child's decapitated head lies close by. While researchers could not geolocate the video, experts in media forensics and AI detection from the Deepfakes Rapid Response Force, an initiative of WITNESS, a nongovernmental organization, analyzed the video file and concluded that there was no evidence of artificial intelligence manipulation.
Al-Hawarin Family
An 18-year-old woman from the al-Hawarin family said her family's home came under fire from al-Hijri-aligned Druze fighters using rifles with optics and heavy machine guns. When she and her relatives tried to flee, the attackers opened fire, killing five family members, including her mother, 50, uncle, 49, aunt, 44, and two cousins, 15 and 5. She said she survived by pretending to be dead until local residents rescued her and took her to a hospital.
"After they [the fighters] left, I tried to move and smelled smoke," she said. "I found my mother's body burning. My uncle had been shot in the head, hand, waist, and face. My mother was wounded in her back and chest. My cousin's five-year-old daughter, and my uncle's wife had been shot in the back. They all died instantly."
Altogether, residents identified 19 Bedouin civilians killed in Shahba that day.
Desecration of Bodies
Human Rights Watch also documented cases of the desecration of bodies, acts that constitute outrages upon personal dignity.
Human Rights Watch analyzed photographic evidence of two incidents of apparent desecration of bodies by Druze armed groups in Sweida governorate. In one, two photographs show the bodies of two men who appear to have been hanged from the gate marking the entrance to Jneineh village. One of the photographs appears to have been posted to the social media account of a Druze fighter, who is seen wearing a uniform with a Druze patch.
In the other, Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated a video posted on social media on July 18 from the predominantly Druze village of Maf'aleh that shows a convoy of vehicles driving down a street in the village with the bodies of two partially clothed men on the front of two vehicles, including one tan pickup with an anti-aircraft cannon mounted on the back. That same type of vehicle, with a Druze militia insignia, is seen in a photograph posted to Facebook the previous day from outside a clinic in Maf'aleh, with a Druze militia insignia, with men celebrating an apparent military victory.
Additionally, a video shared on social media on July 26, verified and geolocated by researchers, apparently filmed from inside a vehicle shows the body of an apparently dead fighter in camouflage clothing on the front of the vehicle driving south through Umm al Zaytoun, a town in Sweida. The driver celebrates, saying that Umm al Zaytoun is free of Bedouins, referring to them with a derogatory term.
Hostage-Taking and Arbitrary Detentions
Both Druze and Bedouin armed groups abducted and arbitrarily detained people during and after the Sweida clashes, unlawfully targeting civilians for revenge, leverage, or exchange.
A Bedouin man from the Salakha area said that local Druze fighters abducted him and about 20 relatives and neighbors, including his 85-year-old mother and a newborn baby, as they tried to flee Sweida on July 15. The group had been travelling with Druze acquaintances who had offered to escort them to Daraa, but they were stopped in Zibin village, where he said residents surrounded their cars, opened fire, and beat them with rifle butts and metal rods. "They pulled us out of the cars and beat us severely," he said. "They took all our gold, money, and IDs, and kept shouting, 'Let's kill them, kill them.'"
He said their Druze captors moved the group among several detention sites-a local party office, a warehouse, and a school-and held them for about 10 days. "The torture was daily." He said. "Beatings with sticks, insults, and constant threats." Their captors showed no regard for the vulnerable, he said, including his mother and his daughter-in-law, who had given birth a week earlier. After local older people intervened, the detainees were handed over to forces reportedly aligned with Sheikh al-Hijri and later transferred via the Syrian Arab Red Crescent to safety in Daraa on July 25.
The abductions occurred amid broader population movements coordinated by Syrian authorities. On July 21, government and Red Crescent convoys evacuated 1,500 Bedouins from Sweida to Daraa as part of a fragile ceasefire that also required Bedouin groups to release Druze women they were holding. Despite these arrangements, kidnappings and retaliatory detentions persisted, underscoring the failure of the parties to protect civilians.
