Mass Execution of Druze Civilians in Suwayda Sparks Outrage as War Crime Evidence Mounts
3 verified videos show Syrian forces executing 12 Druze civilians in Sweida—including 3 men gunned down on a balcony. Over 1,386 killed since July 13, with 238 civilians summarily executed. Druze massacre exposes 'regime's brutal crackdown under tribal cover'.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – Reuters confirmed harrowing evidence from southern Syria that shows the execution-style killing of 12 unarmed Druze civilians in Suwayda province, as broader atrocities committed this month have pushed the civilian death toll to nearly 1,400, with mounting calls for international accountability.
Reuters has reviewed three verified videos showing fighters in military uniforms conducting graphic executions of Druze civilians, including Moaz Arnous, his brother Baraa Arnous, and their cousin Osama Arnous. The footage, filmed by the perpetrators themselves or those accompanying them, captures the three men being ordered onto a balcony before being gunned down and thrown over a railing on July 16.
One of the attackers, already filming with a cellphone, delayed the killings briefly to allow a second gunman to start recording. The chilling footage shows the attackers shouting, “Let’s go! Throw yourself over,” before executing the men and watching their bodies fall onto the street below.
Other videos reveal additional acts of brutality. In one, Mounir al-Rajma, a 60-year-old well guard, is shot after identifying himself as Druze. In another, eight civilians are forced to kneel in the dust at a roundabout before being shot dead by armed men, according to eyewitnesses and family members.
These killings were among at least 12 carried out at three different sites in and around Suwayda this month, all documented in footage verified by Reuters.
A massacre unfolds
The violence, initially erupting between local Druze militias and Bedouin tribal fighters, later escalated with the involvement of Syrian government forces dispatched to restore order. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 1,386 people have been killed since July 13, including 386 civilians—238 of whom were summarily executed by personnel from Syria’s Ministries of Defense and Interior.
According to SOHR their was another shocking episodes occurred on July 15 at the Al-Badr family guesthouse, where residents greeted incoming government troops with hospitality. SOHR obtained footage showing the soldiers being welcomed as "family"—only for eight of those residents to be later found executed in the same location, in what the Observatory labeled a deliberate war crime.
Devastation and displacement
The province has witnessed widespread devastation, especially among the Druze community. Homes have been burned, civilians humiliated, and hundreds displaced. In parallel, dozens of Bedouin families have also been forcibly expelled from the area, compounding the humanitarian crisis.
Following Israel’s strike on Syria’s Ministry of Defense, unverified claims that Druze militants had massacred over 200 Bedouin women and children stoked sectarian tension. SOHR’s investigation, however, confirmed only three Bedouin casualties—a woman, a child, and a man—at the hands of Druze fighters, warning of a deliberate misinformation campaign designed to provoke broader violence.
Government complicity and militia cover
According to SOHR sources, the Syrian regime played a direct role in the bloodshed. Government forces and allied militias—including the Sultan Murad Division—reportedly operated under tribal affiliations to conceal their involvement and deflect responsibility.
The Observatory has accused the regime of orchestrating a broader campaign of communal incitement to justify its military presence and suppress opposition in the region.
As verified footage of mass executions circulates globally, the atrocities committed in Suwayda have cast a long shadow over the international community’s response to the Syrian conflict—demanding accountability, transparency, and decisive humanitarian intervention.
