“We heard gunshots outside; we heard them call all the Druze. The neighbors. They killed them. We heard it,” said Angela – a pseudonym to protect her identity – made me by phone.
Angela recently described what happened to her family in Suwayda, southern Syria. They lived in what is called a Byut Arabi– A majestic house with a courtyard. His family and family of his uncle had gathered in a room.
“Then they came to us. They said they wouldn’t hurt anyone. They demanded all money and gold. With weapons pointed at us, they told women and girls to go upstairs.”
Her voice trembled. They killed all women and girls. Angela was killed in the leg and fell. She is lying among the corpses and has not moved a muscle – her blood from her relatives come together on her.
“I am lying there for hours; I wasted tracking of the time. Some were shouting in the street. They said they were Druze and had come to help.”
Each scholar / images getty
Angela did not know if the murderers returned. She heard a familiar voice, went down. There, the rest of his family – men and boys.
While I scroll through social media, many human rights groups, legislators, influencers and celebrities are silent on what is happening in Syria.
The Druze, a religious minority comprising around 3% of the Syrian population, faces a systematic persecution in Suwayda. Today, some 30,000 Druze and Christians are besieged, without water, electricity, food or medication.
I received a link to a Swedish press article. The Druzes in Sweden began to speak to the press threats against them. I sent a message to Sarah Al Reem, a Swedish Druze activist whose two brothers were killed in Syria.
“We must be courageous, even if we are threatened. How could we live with ourselves if we were silent? What will we say to our children in the future-that we did nothing?” Al Reem said.
Apart from the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on July 22, the Druze held a spontaneous demonstration. Each person I met told me about murdered or kidnapped parents. One of the demonstrators showed me videos of parents – on days, weddings – then newly recorded horror.
“I lost 27 family members. Please look at this,” he said. His words have drowned in tears.
Another man showed me videos of Kidnapped Druze women used as trophies – four were his loved ones. The demonstrators, the Druze, the Alawites, the Sunnis and the Christians kissed crying. Several demonstrators said they couldn’t eat or sleep.
The propaganda machine says it is a dispute between the Druze and the Bedouins, neighbors for centuries. The Syrian regime would have intervened to protect the Bedouins from the violence of the Druze.
But the chronology tells another story. The hatred, threats and murders of the Druze began in December 2024. In April, earlier this year, 13 people were killed in conflicts in Damascus.
I recently spoke with a colleague from my organization, the Human Rights Defense Group ADFA. We have collected daily information Bbc are now reported from the Suwayda hospital where patients, staff, doctors and cleaners have been brutally murdered.
When we received reports on the massacre of the hospital, we hoped that the spirit of the survivors had imagined it: players. We thought the same thing about the pastor and his 11 family members which were slaughtered. When we saw the video of the American killed in front of the camera with his relatives, we hoped that it was false.
We are aware of the brutality shown by the Druze against the Bedouins. It is also horrible. We understand geopolitical game. The United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Russia and Turkey all have participations in what is happening in Syria. But most Syrians – constantly religion or ethnicity – just want peace and live as neighbors. These external interests make this almost impossible.
This is why we need more precision and responsibility on the part of those who report, journalists, analysts and influencers. Those who claim to defend human rights should speak of vulnerable Aboriginal communities in Syria.
What some media call “confrontations” or “conflicts between groups” should be labeled what they are: Druze pogroms and ethnoraligious cleaning attempts. This follows a model of attacks against the indigenous peoples of Syria – like the Massacre of Alawites in March and the Bataillet Suicide who killed Christians In a church in Damascus last month – all crimes against humanity.
We see progress. In the United States, A resolution has been introduced To block lifting sanctions against Syria, unless the interim government can end violence against indigenous minorities. A similar resolution has adopted the European Parliament. In GermanyA political party, Die Linke, organized a press conference urging their government to investigate the massacres of Suwayda.
We can only hope that the words of the legislators do not only remain ink on paper, but lead to a concrete action.
As Al Reem said, how can we tell our children that we watched the horrors take place in Syria and that we did nothing to help?
Nuri Kino is a journalist on several occasions independent investigation and expert in the rights of minorities.
The points of view expressed in this article are the own writers.
