🗓️ On July 14, 2025, Firas went out with his twin daughters (4th grade) to secure some necessities. While on their way, they were stopped at a checkpoint of the General Security—the jihadist apparatus of the terrorist de facto authorities—known as the Tha‘la Checkpoint.

▪️ The checkpoint personnel forced the family to return home under the pretext of bringing an ID card. The daughters were released, but their father was taken away along with his car and approximately $3,000 USD.

▪️ Firas was transferred to the basement of Assef Abu Assi’s villa in the Al-Khader residences, west of Ghazdin, where he was subjected to a so-called “field tribunal” alongside six other unarmed civilians, none of whom had committed any crime or offense. All were summarily executed in cold blood, purely on sectarian grounds, simply because they were Druze from the Unitarian community.

▪️ The six bodies were buried immediately in the Al-Ruha cemetery without being admitted to a hospital. The identities of the six other martyrs remain unknown.

✒️ This crime constitutes a summary field execution outside the rule of law, a grave breach of international humanitarian and criminal law, and falls under crimes against humanity warranting international accountability.

Testimony of a Survivor of the Massacre:

The peaceful, unarmed civilians were taken by surprise by a brutal terrorist attack carried out by elements of the Public Security and Ministry of Defense under the de facto authority, which claimed it came to “settle disputes.” In reality, they were the very terrorists who perpetrated the massacres.

They opened fire on unarmed men, women, and children, wiping out entire families in the streets. Tanks stormed the narrow alleys, crushing cars under their tracks, firing bullets and shells indiscriminately at houses, and setting homes ablaze. Meanwhile, snipers spread across rooftops, targeting anyone who appeared at a window or balcony.

Some families were dragged out of their homes and executed in the streets, while others were slaughtered with knives from behind as a form of torture.

One incident recounted by survivors described a man, his wife, and their child being stopped, forced to run, and then shot dead on the spot. Another case involved an unarmed young man who was in his car—he was sniped, then run over by a tank, and later buried in the square.

In this neighborhood alone, more than 15–20 martyrs—children, women, men, and elderly civilians—were taken from their homes and killed.

In a heartbreaking scene that reflects the scale of tragedy endured by Suwayda, a church sheltering dozens of displaced children and women was deliberately shelled with mortars fired by elements of the de facto authority’s forces led by Abu Muhammad al-Houlani (Ahmad al-Shar’a), amid a troubling international silence and the ongoing suffocating siege imposed on the city.

In a moving testimony, the father of martyr Nabil Fouad Al-Helou (40 years old) – a young Christian whose very name “Nabil” in Arabic means noble, honorable, and virtuous – spoke about the killing of his son by a sniper bullet to the chest, fired by jihadist fighters from the General Security and Ministry of Defense of the de facto authority, alongside allied tribal militias, while he was near the targeted church.

The grieving father raised his voice, appealing to international and humanitarian organizations to assume their responsibilities and act urgently to lift the siege on the city and provide protection for innocent civilians – especially children and women, who face the threat of death every single day.

📹 Verified footage documents Jihadists members of the “General Security” and Ministry of Defense of the de-facto authority, backed by loyal tribal militias, desecrating and exhuming Christian graves in the village of Al-Soura Al-Kabeera during their bloody terrorist assault on Suwayda governorate.

The assault resulted in the forced displacement of residents, the destruction and burning of their properties, and the commission of horrific massacres against civilians—grave breaches of international law that amount to crimes against humanity.

Even the dead were not spared from this wave of terror: graves were desecrated and destroyed in an act of sheer barbarism, exposing the sectarian and brutal nature of the attack 💔.

Such actions constitute terrorism in its purest form and a flagrant violation of human dignity and the sanctity of the dead.

⚠️ #Incident: Following the brutal assault carried out by members of the General Security and the Ministry of Defense under the de facto authority, along with tribal militias loyal to them, thousands of residents were forced to flee their homes in devastated villages to seek safer areas.

In response, local initiatives led by Shahba Sports Club, Basmat Watan Association, the Red Crescent, and residents of Shab’a town set up emergency shelters for displaced families.

🔻 Despite these efforts, the growing number of displaced people has overwhelmed available resources:
• Around 1,000 people currently in shelters
• Severe shortage of fuel essential for electricity and water pumping
• Critical lack of food and drinking water
• Complete communication blackout, making aid coordination nearly impossible
• Healthcare system collapsing as many hospitals have gone out of service following the assault

☑️ Relief efforts continue despite the challenges, but conditions are worsening by the day.

📍 #Suwayda City
🗓️ July 17–20, 2025
⚠️ #Incident: A heartbreaking testimony from civilian Salim Shreiti after surviving live gunfire by General Security elements affiliated with the de facto authority, alongside allied tribal militias.

🗣️ Salim Shreiti recounts:

“On July 17, I fled my home in Ain al-Zaman neighborhood to my parents’ house on Al-Najma Street.
People were escaping from the village of Al-Mazraa toward the city.
When the situation worsened, I took shelter with about 20 others in the Burj al-Reem area, at my brother’s house.”

He continues:

“On July 20, I went out to see what was happening.
I saw General Security members executing a civilian by gunfire right before my eyes.
I ran back, but they shot me — the first bullet hit one leg, the second hit the other.
We all ran and hid.”

🔻 With his voice breaking, he adds:

“They killed the doctor and cut off his wife’s hand just to steal her gold.
A man passed by on a motorcycle — they sniped him immediately.
The sniper was positioned across from Burj al-Reem, and when he was captured, it turned out he was from Daraa.”

🆘 He concludes:

“I have nothing left… no food, no water, no work, no home.
I have three little daughters, and my wife is pregnant.
I have nothing left… nothing at all.”

In mid-July, forces from the Public Security Directorate and the Ministry of Defense under the de facto authorities stormed the town of Khelkhleh, located in the northern countryside of As-Suwayda, accompanied by large numbers of tribal militias. The town witnessed widespread looting and arson, with homes set ablaze before the eyes of their residents.

🗣️ A local witness recounts:

“These people have no honor or word. Only ten of us remained in the town after we evacuated everyone just hours before their arrival. We tried to negotiate with them to protect our homes and livelihoods, while at the same time we saw members of the Public Security Directorate looting shops, and armed Bedouin fighters who came with their families stealing and ransacking everything.
Ninety percent of the houses were burned, and those who stayed behind were martyred. We were unarmed and believed they came to establish security and safety. We believed there was a state — and that’s why today we are displaced.”

The witness adds:

“Even worse, those who stayed in the town were killed inside their homes, and their bodies remain unrecovered to this day. One elderly man is missing — we don’t know if he was killed or is still alive. He suffers from a chronic illness and needs daily medication, but no one knows if he still has his medicine or if it has run out. No one knows his fate — and if he is still alive, his condition is in critical danger without his daily treatment.”

The witness also noted that one of the elderly survivors who managed to escape the massacre died four days later of a heart attack, reportedly due to the shock and grief over what had happened in his village.