The number of people killed in the massacres in Syria’s Suwayda Governorate is still yet from being fully documented, as tensions continue to flare and the whole governorate is effectively on lockdown from the government. Talks aimed at addressing concerns about that situation are scheduled for this week in Amman, Jordan.
But while early reports were that a number of representatives of the Druze minority would be present for the talks, that turns out not to be the case, as the Syrian Islamist government has insisted only government representatives could participate, and therefore no Druze will be present.
That’s hugely important since the violence in Suwayda mostly involved massacres of the Druze population, and the Syrian government security forces are accused of participating in at least some of those. The talks are now scheduled to only involve Syria and Jordan’s respective foreign ministers, as well as US envoy Tom Barrack.
Tom Barrack with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa | Image from X
Barrack said the talks will affirm their “collective determination to move towards a future in which Syria and all its people can live in peace, security and prosperity.” It’s not at all clear, however, that any concrete efforts will be discussed at these talks.
State Department spokesman Michael Mitchell urged “restraint” in Suwayda, and warning against excessive use of force against protesters. The administration in general, however, seems to be overwhelmingly behind the Syrian government on effectively all issues, and is pushing for the Druze, the Kurdish SDF and others to voluntarily disarm so that the Islamist central government has a monopoly on arms.
The Kurds have rejected those demands, and the Druze seem to be headed in that direction as well, with their religious leaders united against the Syrian government after last month’s massacres.
A new video has drawn more attention to the killings in Suwayda, showing uniformed forces entering a hospital and summarily executing an unarmed man who was identified as a hospital volunteer. They had rounded up hospital staff for questioning and killed the man after he confirmed he was Druze.
Before the video surfaced, state media was accusing Druze forces of carrying out the massacre at the hospital, and while this video only shows a single execution, it’s plainly by government security forces. The government is now promising an investigation into the matter.
That probably won’t lead to much, as myriad promised investigations into the massacre of Alawites in northwest Syria earlier in the spring similarly were just extended until the matter was more or less dropped publicly. Both the anti-Alawite purge and the violence against the Druze led to well over 1,000 deaths, and simmering violence that has continued to rage in both cases.
Since Trump met with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in May, the US has been overwhelmingly supportive of their position, and while noting the massacres, there is little sign they intend to pressure them in any real way to resolve the tensions with their religious minorities. The ruling Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) continues to give lip-service to the idea of being a unifying force, despite its historical ties to al-Qaeda and its present involvement in massacres, but that seems to be sufficient for the administration.
