A year after dictator Assad's fall and months after deadly sectarian clashes in the southern region of Sweida, Syria's Druze community is still reeling — raising doubts about how inclusive the new Syria is for minorities.

Beirut

Druze communities in Syria's Suwayda region have faced significant upheaval following deadly clashes with local Bedouin tribes and the intervention of government forces. Many Druze families have been displaced, seeking shelter in makeshift accommodations such as school buildings, and report experiencing severe trauma from the violence.

The conflict escalated to a regional level when Israel intervened to protect the Druze minority, targeting Syrian government military sites. Although a ceasefire has largely held, violations persist, and local activists express a loss of hope and trust in the central government, citing ongoing insecurity and lack of representation.

Druze communities feel under pressure in Syria

This schoolyard is meant for lessons in laughter. Today, displaced Druze families use it to dry clothes and charge their phones. They shelter in the school's classrooms. At the entrance, in a cramped security booth, Manel has lived with her husband for months. Are we going to stay here? It cannot be. Every day I tell my husband, this can't be real, maybe I'm just dreaming. Manel left her village of Al-Mazraa in July, when deadly clashes broke out between Druze and local Bedouin tribes. The violence intensified when the transitional government in Damascus sent forces to intervene. She says she and her husband saw horrors on the way through the Suwayda region. We saw people hanging from balconies. We saw people dead in their cars. It was unbelievable. We couldn't process it. What happened in Suwayda felt like an action or horror movie. I don't know how we survived. I can't process what happened to us. All sides, especially those aligned with the government, have been accused of grave violations against civilians. The conflict escalated into a regional one when Israel intervened. It has a significant Druze community and said it was moving to protect Druze in Syria. The Israeli army struck Syrian government military targets, including the defense ministry in Damascus. Since then, a fragile ceasefire has held, though violations continue. The events of the summer have left people in Suwayda traumatized and divided over what happened. A region that long prided itself for its opposition to the Assad regime has been left reeling by the first year of what came after. When the Assad regime fell in December of last year, this square was filled with the joy of Suwayda's people. Today, after the bloody events of the summer, things have changed. The Syrian flags have disappeared, and the hopes of many in the Druze minority of having a better future in their own country have faded. In the city center, we meet several Druze activists. They opposed Assad for years. We first spoke to them here last year, just after the regime collapsed. Back then, they were cautiously optimistic. Today they tell us everything is different. For 14 years, we tried to speak out against what happened to Syrians, only then to have the same brutality practiced on us. If I chose to be in the opposition, I bore the consequences. Now it's different. Now belonging to a certain sect doesn't just mean persecution. It's worse than death. We started feeling that this idea of a collective Syrian identity is a lie we told ourselves. I feel like I'm walking around with a death sentence. I feel like I'm in some kind of a big prison, just because of which sect I belong to. For them, finding peace and trust will take time, and much more than promises from the government in Damascus. Right now, we are not just still bleeding. Our wounds are getting bigger. We still have people missing. There are people that have been killed that cannot be identified yet. I don't see anyone representing the people of Suwayda in the current central government. Her village is still held by government forces, which she doesn't trust protect her. But she says all she wants is to go home again. If there is even one ceiling left in my house, I will live under it.

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Washington

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

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Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

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Caracas

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Tokyo

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Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

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Samraong

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Rakhine

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U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

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Oslo

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Kyiv

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Bangkok

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Minneapolis

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Canberra

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Pennsylvania

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Tel Aviv-Yafo

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Rome

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Manhattan

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Brussels

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London

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Surin

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Hollywood

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Breakdown