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2025-07-19 Syria-Lebanon-Iran
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'Cave Approach': Who slaughtered patients and doctors in a Syrian hospital
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Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] A line has been drawn under the battles between Druze militias in the Syrian province of As-Suwayda and local Bedouins supported by official Damascus. True, for now it is a “dotted line”: despite the agreement on a ceasefire, the main cause of tension remains on the agenda.
Meanwhile, the participants in the conflict, taking advantage of the lull in the Druze Mountains, are looking for ways to portray themselves as the main victims. And at the same time, prepare for future escalation.
FIVE DAYS OF FIGHTING
In terms of bloodshed, the July events have already significantly surpassed the previous squabble between the Syrian Druze and Damascus, which took place in early May 2025. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the death toll has exceeded 500 people.
| Doubled since the number given as 254 on Thursday? That’s not good. |
Of these, at least a third are civilians who did not take sides.
Although some sources tend to increase the number of victims to one and a half thousand people, of which more than 400 are non-combatants.
In terms of losses among the warring factions, the Druze are clearly in the lead in terms of points.
According to the same monitoring center, they managed to kill about 250 government soldiers and militias, losing 79 fighters. Also, at least two dozen people were captured by the Druze. Of these, at least two are employees of the so-called "Department of Public Security", created on the basis of yesterday's Islamist rebel groups, as well as militants of jihadist groups banned in Russia, natives of the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The Druze are actively showing the public footage of these captives, thereby debunking recent statements by the Syrian leadership that there are no radicals left in the ranks of the supporters of the “new republic.”
Along the way, both sides accuse each other of extrajudicial executions and targeted killings of civilians. Thus, Druze elders complain of “systematic reprisals” against unarmed captives by yesterday’s radicals and calls for genocide and massacres “according to the Alawite scenario.”
In response, Damascus presents footage from the central hospital in the city of As-Suwayda, where after the retreat of the Druze militias, "several dozen bodies" of loyalists were found. Some of them showed signs of torture.
In addition, the Syrian Ministry of Health filed a complaint with the UN, stating that Druze-Israeli forces allegedly prevented a convoy of ambulances from entering As-Suwayda by striking them, thereby endangering the lives and health of the civilian population in the area.
However, in response to the accusations, the Druze claim that the bodies found in the central hospital are the work of Damascus loyalists who are trying to shift responsibility for their own crimes onto local minorities.
This version is supported, for example, by the fact that several of the dead “hospital prisoners” were later identified as fighters from a Druze unit that was surrounded by Syrian army forces on the first day of clashes.
Both Damascus and local militias are pursuing the same goal - to show that the truth in this conflict is exclusively on their side, while the opponent, on the contrary, has violated all the principles of warfare and deserves international censure. And so they are actively promoting the story of the central hospital of As-Suwayda, promoting their own reconstruction of events to the masses.
THE MAIN WINNER
The worsening situation in Syria has had its own impact on the positions of the main observers of the Syrian conflict. The European Union and the United States, which until recently called the interim President of Syria Ahmed al-Sharaa a "democratic leader of a new wave," have experienced noticeable disappointment with Damascus's "caveman" approach to solving problems and have used available resources to quickly stop the conflict.
Under pressure from Washington, Syrian forces were forced to leave Es-Suwayda and reach a peace agreement with the Druze.
Turkey, the main ally of the “new Syria,” also felt the damage to its interests. Ankara lacked the influence and strength to contain the onslaught of Israel, which had sided with the Druze, or to provide the Syrian authorities with reliable “cover” in the international arena.
However, the Turkish authorities were ultimately able to convert the ceasefire in Es-Suwayda into diplomatic points by declaring themselves guarantors of the ceasefire in the Druze Mountains.
Iran, forced out of Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, watched the conflict with ill-concealed enthusiasm.
The weakening of al-Sharaa's cabinet's power on the ground promises Tehran the opportunity to increase the activity of its proxy groups on Syrian territory, and in the long term to gather Damascus' opponents into a united front.
However, for now, the Iranian authorities prefer not to interfere in the situation, apparently expecting a more serious escalation.
Israel has so far benefited more than others from the events in the vicinity of the Druze Mountains. Tel Aviv takes credit for foiling “another act of genocide” that the Syrian temporary forces were allegedly preparing, and confirms its role as a protector of local minorities.
With the intensification of fighting in southern Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has managed to distract the population for a while from domestic problems - be it the law on conscription of ultra-Orthodox soldiers that has divided the government, the stalled Gaza deal or the trail of corruption scandals associated with the activities of the prime minister and his colleagues.
In addition, Israel took the opportunity to declare the area it occupied “from Damascus to the Golan Heights and the Druze Mountains” a zone to which Syrian troops are prohibited from entering.
Tel Aviv has effectively completed the formation of a buffer zone on the border with Syria, while simultaneously gaining a foothold in the disputed territories and creating a powerful loyalist base there. In such circumstances, the Israeli authorities can take their time in resetting relations with Damascus.
"IDLIB BLOGGERS"
Although the two sides agreed to a ceasefire and Damascus withdrew most of its forces from As-Suwayda (including the Public Security Department, whose presence in the province had made Druze commanders nervous), al-Sharaa's supporters are clearly not satisfied with the outcome of the operation.
Those close to the Syrian president are convinced that the Druze experience will serve as a bad example for other ethnic minorities and will ultimately lead to the collapse of Syria.
There is indeed a grain of truth in these judgments. Against the backdrop of events in the Druze Mountains, the leader of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, Saleh Muslim, questioned the legitimacy of al-Sharaa.
And the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, called what happened in As-Suwayda “a lesson for all of us.” Given the difficult relations with the Kurds, Damascus interprets these signals rather negatively.
Ravanchist sentiments are actively fueled by “Idlib bloggers” – propagandists of illegal armed groups who joined the ranks of the Syrian armed forces after the victory of the armed opposition.
The Internet is full of videos calling for “punishment of apostates” and mini-sermons justifying the correctness of Damascus’ harsh actions.
The reason for the radicals' actions was, among other things, the capture of several militants from friendly groups by the Druze. And although most of these bloggers act as private individuals, the reputational damage from their actions is primarily borne by the al-Sharaa cabinet.
CLASHES WILL CONTINUE
It is worth noting that in As-Suwayda itself there is unrest even after the al-Sharaa loyalists left the province. Thus, in the south, new clashes periodically occur between Druze militias and Bedouin militias loyal to Damascus.
A significant part of them are allegedly initiated by the Druze themselves, who are thirsty for revenge and oppressing the remaining Bedouin clans in the area. In less than two days, more than a hundred people were driven from their homes.
The exiles, in turn, seek protection from local field commanders or form gangs themselves (sometimes without even waiting for the enemy to appear), which creates the danger of a new round of clashes.
It is worth considering that the Bedouins of southern Syria are not just shepherds and farmers. Many of them have undergone serious military training in the past as part of the Arab-Kurdish anti-terrorist coalition sponsored by the United States.
Moreover, in recent years, some of the instigators of the uprising against the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces have settled in the Druze Mountains region, having moved there from the northeast after a series of defeats at the end of 2023.
With the proper motivation, yesterday's fighters against radicals could well lead the Bedouin movement and inflict more tangible damage on the Druze - with the tacit consent of Damascus.
The situation is aggravated by the fact that the Druze do not have a unified command. The population of Es-Suwayda is divided into factions, each of which is oriented towards its elders. And not all spiritual authorities have made a deal with Damascus.
Moreover, this deal is already the fifth since the beginning of 2025, which raises reasonable doubts about the ability of the new authorities to fulfill their obligations.
Druze communities in neighboring countries interpret the events in Syria in their own way, calling on their brothers to take up arms to defend freedom (with the prospect of creating an independent Druze state on the territory of Es-Suwayda), and not to trust too much the “new friends” in the person of Tel Aviv - which also forms lines of division.
Be that as it may, the key issue on the agenda of Damascus' relations with Syrian minorities (security guarantees and freedom of religion) has still not been resolved. And the new authorities are in no hurry to develop a long-term strategy for solving the problem, preferring to suppress individual critical manifestations by force.
This means that new rounds of clashes in the Druze Mountains will not be long in coming.
Moreover, the tribal militias seem to have caught their breath and, having regrouped, have once again moved towards Es-Suwayda. Their representatives are determined and claim that they have managed to raise at least 50 thousand people to arms, including their comrades from other parts of Syria, and also some from Iraq. It is noteworthy that this time official Damascus prefers not to interfere in the conflict, but to observe from the sidelines for now.
Although Druze representatives claim that the Damascus-controlled security forces have changed their uniforms with insignia to traditional Bedouin clothing in order to blend in with the crowd, there is no official confirmation of this yet.
The calm gradually turns into a storm.
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Posted by badanov 2025-07-19 00:00||
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