Sweida

The fall of the Assad regime. Sweida, the heartland of Syria’s Druze community in the south, holds on to a fragile autonomy.

A Druze merchant is abducted, beaten and robbed at a checkpoint on the Damascus–Sweida highway, subjected to sectarian insults and death threats. The spark.

Fighting erupts. Within two days, nearly 89 people are killed.

The deadliest wave. Government forces, joined by tribal fighters, carry out widespread atrocities against Druze civilians — executions, torture, arbitrary detention and looting — in western Sweida and Sweida city. Men identified as Druze were separated and executed; others were shot in the streets or killed in their homes alongside their families. Amnesty International documented the killing of 46 Druze (44 men and two women) on 15 to 16 July. In at least three documented cases, Druze women were raped before being executed. UN experts documented widespread sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, including calls on social media for the abduction and enslavement of Druze women.

Israel carries out airstrikes against Syrian government forces, citing the protection of the Druze.

Government forces withdraw overnight.

Tribal fighters mobilize from across Syria and target Druze civilians in revenge. Almost every home in 35 mixed and Druze-majority villages is attacked, with systematic burning and looting.

A fragile ceasefire is announced.

A humanitarian catastrophe. Nearly 200,000 people are displaced; electricity networks, water facilities and key public institutions are devastated. The Druze province is placed under a suffocating siege.

The UN reports that around 105 Druze women and girls were abducted, and 560 people went missing. Sexual violence against abducted women was documented.

Prisoner exchanges take place; Druze captives are released.

The UN Commission of Inquiry reports at least 1,707 killed, the vast majority Druze civilians, and nearly 200,000 displaced, with almost 200 women and children among the dead. It finds violations that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and states that the Druze population was subjected to severe sectarian violence leading to mass displacement expected to persist for a long time.

Sweida is still under siege. Shortages of food, medicine and basic services persist.