The online leak of an audio recording allegedly depicting a Druze cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad changed the security picture around Damascus and Suwayda overnight: in response, interim security forces and local armed groups attacked two Druze areas near Damascus and started attacking Druze communities in the north of Suwayda. The number of overall casualties is still unknown: estimates of those killed in the three-day clashes range from nearly 40 to more than 70. ETANA cannot independently confirm the veracity of these reports.
The shocking violence of recent days threatens to significantly destabilize an already fragile security situation in post-Assad Syria. Although tense and uncertain ceasefire negotiations were underway on 30th April, the positions of interim President Ahmad al-Shara’a and interim authorities on the one hand, and Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri and a significant (and potentially growing) segment of Druze society on the other, appear more diametrically opposed than ever before. The current wave of violence and incitement against the Druze has strengthened a more radical local stance in Suwayda that rejects any form of relationship with the new Syrian administration and increased popular support around Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri (who has already adopted a stronger, more contentious stance by calling armed groups attacking Jaramana and Ashrafiyat Sahnaya “takfiri gangs”).
Within Suwayda itself, the return of Druze students, heightened sectarian incitement and rising tensions risk isolating Druze-majority areas from control by interim authorities and could portend a broader Sunni Bedouin–Druze conflict in the south in the coming days if a comprehensive agreement is not reached between Druze factions—and al-Hijri’s bloc in particular—and senior figures in the new administration. A more aggressive approach from interim authorities with the apparent aim of disarming Druze armed groups and isolating al-Hijri may also further stoke fears of sectarian violence evoked by recent massacres on Syria’s coast, further hardening the Druze-majority position and necessitating further conflict dynamics, and possible violence, in the process.
Timeline: Leaked Recording Sparks Protests, Armed Clashes
Late on 27th April, an audio recording allegedly depicting a Druze cleric insulting the Prophet Muhammad was leaked online. The recording was said to be part of a heated Whatsapp exchange between two faction members following earlier clashes between Mufleh al-Sabra’s Bedouin groups and Druze armed groups in Suwayda—an important underlying dynamic in the events that followed. A Druze man residing in Europe claimed to have matched the audio in the recording to Sheikh Marwan Kiwan, a Druze cleric from Suwayda, and posted it on Facebook. Kiwan later denied any connection to the recording and requested a voice-print comparison to clear his name.
Violent protests in reaction to the recording and targeting Druze students initially broke out on university campuses before spreading to up to 70 locations across the country. A faction from the Druze Liwa’ al-Jabal faction fired rockets at two Bedouin neighborhoods of central Suwayda city—Al-Haroubi and Rajem al-Zeitoun—in an attempt to force al-Sabra, who resides in the area, out. Shortly afterwards, all armed groups in eastern, northern and western rural areas of Suwayda mobilized for potential clashes. Meanwhile, as word of the recording spread online, students from Daraa at the Al-Ba’ath University in Homs violently attacked Druze students’ dorms; a similar attack also took place at Damascus University’s Faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. With anger and threats spreading, Druze students decided to collectively suspend attendance at universities outside Suwayda and mostly travelled to Suwayda, concerned for their safety.
Early in the morning of 28th April, armed groups from Eastern Ghouta and General Security units attacked Jaramana with medium and heavy weapons before gradually surrounding the area. Jaramana is a predominantly Druze area to the south-east of Damascus proper that has been the site of tensions with interim authorities since the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Twelve attackers were killed in the ensuing clashes, including four General Security members, in addition to six Druze fighters. That same morning, Liwa’ al-Zubair (the Zubair Brigade, made up of Rural Damascus-based fighters with historical links to Deir Ezzor) also attacked Druze groups in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya, a town to the south-west of Damascus close to Darayya. No casualties were reported amid the clashes.
On 28th April, Druze armed groups in Suwayda launched a full-scale mobilization, effectively resembling a general alert, after the outbreak of violence in Rural Damascus. Convoys of Druze fighters left Suwayda—as well as Mount Hermon in south-west Syria—and were able in some cases to reach the environs of the capital to bolster the ranks of Druze groups fighting in Rural Damascus. In one case, a convoy heading towards Jaramana was attacked by security forces on the southern ring road around south Damascus.
Fighting in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya resumed late the following day when General Security, Ministry of Defense and Ghouta factions besieged the town and brought reinforcements to storm it. The later bout of fighting resulted in multiple casualties: Druze groups announced the death of Sheikh Wajdi al-Hajj Ali (from the Men of Dignity Movement in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya) and at least 10 others (including a woman and three children) in addition to at least six security personnel. Clashes continued from the early hours on Wednesday into the afternoon.
By early evening on 30th April, reports emerged of armed attacks against Druze communities in areas of northern Suwayda close to Al-Lajat, with clashes continuing the following day. Armed groups believed to be pro-government Bedouin factions attacked Al-Sawara al-Kabeera in far northern Suwayda with RPGs, mortars and heavy machine-guns. Other reports on the morning of 1st May indicated clashes in and around Khalkaleh and Thakir, both on the Damascus-Suwayda highway in northern Suwayda.
Involvement of “unaffiliated” armed groups
Notably, groups participating in attacks against Druze areas include General Security, Ministry of Defense units as well as former opposition factions from Mleiha and other areas of Eastern Ghouta neighboring Jaramana. Although these latter groups were initially portrayed by the government as unaffiliated local factions, General Security and Ministry of Defense units are fighting alongside these groups and tacitly providing them with material support. Interim authorities are essentially using these “unaffiliated” armed groups as a means of pressuring Druze communities towards acquiescence and disarmament, similar to the pressure campaign that ended with the dissolution of Ahmad al-Awedeh’s groups in nearby Daraa.
Israeli involvement
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has issued statements claiming to protect the Druze community in Syria, a narrative it has weaponized in support of its stated objective of a demilitarized southern Syria. Late on 29th April, an Israeli drone strike targeted a Ministry of Defense site near Sahnaya, while a strike the following day killed at least two Ministry of Defense troops in the same area. Israeli forces confirmed the strikes and warned of further attacks should violence against the Druze continue. ETANA is aware of reports of several other attacks—including an airstrike from an Israeli jet that destroyed a tank and another attack using a jet-borne machine-gun—however, Israeli media outlet Channel 14 reported that there had been a total of four aerial attacks on Damascus on Tuesday and Wednesday. Israel’s exploitation of transnational ties amongst the Druze communities in the region and its ongoing military aggression have exacerbated sectarian tensions and instability within Syria.
Since the fall of Assad in December 2024, Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes across Syria and conducts regular ground incursions in the south-west in violation of Syria’s sovereignty. Populations across south Syria, including in Suwayda, have protested Israel’s occupation of Syrian land and intervention in Syria’s affairs, decrying its efforts to sow divisions in the country. In Quneitra, where local residents regularly face raids, lockdowns and violence due to Israeli incursions into their land, they have rejected Tel Aviv’s attempts at outreach: when Israeli forces tried to hand out relief baskets to residents in southern Quneitra late March, the packages were burned in protest.
Current security developments
The clashes have placed increased pressure on Syria’s Druze, a minority community that has historically operated with a degree of semi-autonomy, and in particular Sheikh al-Hijri, one of Suwayda’s most prominent spiritual leaders. In a surprise announcement this afternoon, al-Hijri called for international intervention to protect the Druze, suggesting distrust in the current ceasefire process.
At the time of writing, leaders in Jaramana have agreed to disarm Druze groups in Jaramana and transfer weapons to security forces. An agreement has not been reached in Suwayda, however, where spiritual leaders just concluded a meeting with a statement reiterating their Syrian national identity. The situation is calmer for now, but tensions could quickly escalate again.
