Damascus is on a roll. It has signed a deal with the Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria. Damascus may now have worked out an agreement with the Druze region in southern Syria. The SDF are the US-backed group that controls most of the Kurdish regions of Syria and which is led Kurdish commanders. The group is includes other groups as well. The deal with the SDF looks to secure Kurdish rights in eastern Syria. Now Damascus may have hammered out a deal with the Druze in Suweida.
Unlike the SDF, the Druze in Suweida do not have a strong military organization. During the Assad era and the Syrian civil war they were able to run some of their own affairs locally, and they had their own armed militia, however they were always vulnerable. For instance an ISIS attack on Suweida in 2018 killed an estimated 200 people.
The Druze thus relied on Damascus for protection and many Druze served in the security forces. After the Assad regime fell there were concerns among the Druze that they could be persecuted by the new leadership. This is because extremists in Syria have targeted Druze in the past.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that rose to power in December 2024 in Damascus, did not have a great track record regarding minorities in Syria.
However, over the last four months many things have changed.
The Druze have tried to navigate the new situation. Druze leaders have met with Syria’s new president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Israeli officials have also said they will protect the Druze. Several incidents in Suweida showed Israeli flags being raised in the city, and quickly taken down. Meanwhile Israel has carried out airstrikes and raids in southern Syria and demanded the area be demilitarized.
Druze integration
According to Al Jazeera on March 11 the Syrian government has reached an agreement with the Druze leadership to integrate their area into the Syrian state institutions. Levant 24 reported that “the agreement stipulates that security agencies in Suwayda will be incorporated into the Syrian Ministry of Interior. The agreement states that local police officers must be from the people of Suwayda. The agreement allows the Syrian government to appoint a governor and a police chief, without requiring them to be from Suwayda.”
According to a separate report, also in Qatari media, the agreement will include the deployment of 300 security forces in the area. These are apparently forces from Damascus, not the existing Druze forces. Hundreds of locals will also become part of a new police force. A new police commander has been chosen and his deputy will be selected from among the locals.
Syrian state media SANA said that the “President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Mr.Ahmad al-Sharaa, has recently received Governor of Sweida, Mustafa Al-Bakour, and a number of activists of Sweida at the People’s Palace in Damascus.” He report noted that “the Sweida Governorate posted on its Telegram channel that talks during the meeting dealt with important national and local issues.”
SANA further noted that “the meeting also stressed the importance of this decisive stage in Syria’s history, during which free Syrians aspire for a homeland where justice, law, and fair representation of all spectrum of the Syrian people prevail, despite the difficult regional and international circumstances and the plots being hatched against the unity of Syria, its land and people.”
Israel has vowed over the past months to protect the Druze. It would appear that if this agreement moves forward that they may not need protecting. That would mean that two groups that Israel sought to support in Syria, Kurds and Druze, are now moving closer to integration with the new government in Damascus.
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