The newly formed Islamist regime in Syria, established as former Al-Qaeda commander Ahmed al-Sharaa—also known as Abu Mohammad al-Julani—was named Syria’s transitional president on Jan. 31, 2025, following the ousting of former Syrian President Bashar Assad, has wasted no time in revealing its true nature.
Despite initially pledging to form an inclusive transitional government, the regime has unleashed a brutal campaign of violence that bears all the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing, targeting the country’s Druze minority.
This month, that campaign intensified dramatically. According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR), more than 1,000 people have been killed in recent clashes, including 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians, 194 of whom were “executed by gunmen affiliated with the Ministries of Defense and Interior.”
Following a brutal military onslaught on the Druze-majority Syrian city of Sweida, a new ceasefire was announced by the government and some Druze leaders on July 16 after several Israeli airstrikes targeted Syrian army headquarters in Damascus, aiming to protect the Druze population. The ceasefire was not respected by the Arab clans that joined forces with government troops in their attempt to occupy Sweida.
Pro-government Syrian Arab clans have joined the government in their fight against the Druze minority. Thousands of Arab clan militants joined their allies in attacking the Druze, claiming that the Arab clans are in duress. The Supreme Council of Arab Tribes in Syria declared a call to arms on July 18 to occupy Sweida and defeat the Druze.
Several non-Syrian mercenaries fighting on the side of the Syrian government have been arrested or caught on camera, such as in this video posted to Facebook on July 18. On July 18, Al Arabiya News cameras documented the pro-government Arab clans controlling the village of “Little Soura” near Sweida.
The Syrian Presidency accused the Druze of breaking ceasefires and attacking Arab clans in a statement on July 18 that completely ignored the attacks and the ethnic cleansing against Druze.
“The spread of armed groups outside the law, which have used weapons as a means to impose a fait accompli and have directly endangered the lives of civilians—including children, women, and the elderly,” the statement said, without mentioning the Arab tribes and government troops committing atrocities documented on video by the assailants.
This is not the first time Julani’s government has attacked and targeted a specific ethnic group. It has done that against Christians and Alawite Muslims since last December, when Julani seized power following the fall of Assad’s regime.
There are about 1.2 million Druze, and the majority live in Syria, numbering about 800,000. The Druze enjoyed a period of protected religious freedom under Assad, but that changed following his ouster last December.
Ethnic-cleansing videos against Druze
Videos by the new Syrian government’s soldiers and affiliated militants manifest the extent of brutality and barbarism that the Druze minority is facing now. The ongoing onslaught has been escalating for months. On May 1, a terrorist ambush executed by government security forces claimed the lives of 15 Druze citizens.
Hospitals in Sweida are stacked with an unbelievable number of casualties and corpses on the floor, as seen in this video posted on July 17. The Syrian government-affiliated security forces played jihadist songs on their way to storm the city of Sweida and its Druze majority population. The genocidal alliance of jihadists and militants was unabashed in recording everything on video.
Syrian Druze citizens were beaten to near death by Syrian government militias in a video shot by the assailants and posted to Telegram on July 15. Syrian Druze corpses resulting from the hideous operations were loaded on trucks and shipped to unknown locations. The militants shooting the video, which was posted to Telegram on July 14, are heard calling the dead “pigs and dogs.”
The campaign included looting Druze businesses and shops in the city amidst shouts of “Allahu Akbar” by the terrorist militias in a video posted to Telegram on July 14.
“In the name of God, Allahu Akhbar, these are the Druze pigs’ shops. Thank God, there are no war spoils. Thank God, everyone is gone and, in a few hours, inshallah, we will be in the house of [Druze religious leader Sheikh Hikmat] al-Hijri, the pig,” declared one pro-government terrorist in a video posted on Telegram on July 14.
Syrian government militias were creative in their mass murdering techniques. They are seen throwing their victims out of balconies or from rooftops and shooting while jumping on them in horrendous death scenes. The government militias had no qualms videotaping these crimes, as in the video posted on July 19.
In some cases, Syrian government militias are seen opening fire on unarmed victims, killing them on the spot after shouting, “Pigs,” and “Allahu Akbar.” Some families were slaughtered by Syrian Army forces inside their cars, their bodies left to rot.
A massacre documented and posted on Telegram on July 15 claimed the lives of nine Druze civilians in the Radwan guest house in Sweida. Syrian security forces opened fire on civilian buildings indiscriminately in this video posted on July 17.
Even toddlers were not spared from the barbaric onslaught of Julani’s forces, as can be seen in this video posted to Telegram on July 17.
Plea to save the Druze from Syrian troops
Prominent Druze cleric al-Hijri remains the arch-rival of al-Sharaa. Al-Hijri has been calling on Druze to hold their ground against the onslaught of the Syrian government forces.
The spiritual leadership of the Druze issued a plea for saving the lives of Druze citizens on its Facebook page on July 17:
“O our people ... O free people of Sweida ... With broken hearts, unquenchable tears, and feelings beyond expression, we mourn for the free world and for all of humanity.
“Our sons, our brothers, our righteous martyrs, who ascended as victims of a bloody tragedy, perpetrated by a criminal terrorist organization that has nothing to do with humanity. In a cowardly attack targeting defenseless civilians from this pure land, killing innocents with a brutality only committed by those who have stripped their hearts of all mercy and their souls of every atom of humanity. In these difficult moments and after the cleansing of Sweida of the filth of terrorists, we declare that Sweida, a stricken region burdened with its wounds, declares a general mourning period in honor of the souls of our righteous martyrs.”
“Let them, the medical crews, document the violations,” the statement said, urging the Jordanian authorities to open the borders between Sweida and Jordan for fleeing victims and for humanitarian aid to pass.
“We also demand the opening of roads to our Kurdish brothers and sisters, and we appeal to His Majesty King Abdullah II in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to direct the opening of a border crossing between Sweida and Jordan, given the humanitarian importance of these roads at these critical times. We hope to take urgent steps to facilitate communication and alleviate the suffering of citizens.
“May God have mercy on our martyrs and grant them a place in His spacious gardens. May He comfort the hearts of their mothers, fathers, brothers, wives and children. May He inspire us all with patience and steadfastness.
“Sweida is bleeding; yes, but it will not be defeated. It will remain proud, steadfast and hold its head high, thanks to the pride, faith and unity of its people.”
International condemnations and the way forward
A terrorist organization listed by the United Nations since July 2013, Julani can be described as a rare winner of a political lottery as no Islamist terrorist has ever been so lucky as to be recognized by world powers and even sit for a tête-à-tête with world leaders, including the president of the United States, who lifted sanctions on Syria following persuasion by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Al-Sharaa is now in a place of power, contrary to his former peers, such as Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who all met the ending they deserved. But instead, Julani is sitting in on his lofty perch in his presidential palace, knowing he is safe from accountability for his former and current crimes thanks to world leaders rushing to recognize him as a leader of a nation that has been torn by war for 14 years and that deserved a much better leader than a mass murderer in a suit.
Some countries, such as France, condemned the atrocities against the Druze population, but hardly any country in the region, and certainly not the Arab League, condemned the mass murder of the Druze.
The world recently commemorated the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, which claimed the lives of more than 10,000 Bosnian Muslims murdered by Bosnian Serbs in the worst massacre of its kind since World War II. The ongoing massacres in Syria targeting Druze and previously Alawites and Christians are turning Syria into a new Yugoslavia.
Despite the claims of withdrawing from Sweida by government forces and a new ceasefire on July 19, pro-government militias vowed to continue to fight. The militias said they were willing to fight until the death of al-Hijri, whom they called the “dog of Israel”.
Giving al-Sharaa a chance to prove himself as a civilized leader and not a terrorist was a severe case of political wishful thinking on behalf of Arab and Western leaders alike. He lived up to his notorious reputation in the past seven months, and thousands of innocent Syrian civilians have paid with their lives for this uncalculated political gambit. It is time to put an end to this shameful situation before Sweida turns into a new Srebrenica.
