Aid convoy ambushed in southern Syria: 11 kidnapped, vehicles seized
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Gunmen in southern Syria kill a security officer during clashes, as parties negotiate the release of kidnapped aid workers and seized relief vehicles.
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A convoy of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent carrying food and other aid travels to the city of Sweida on the highway between Daraa and Damascus, near Izraa, in rural Daraa province, Syria, Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (AP)
An aid convoy traveling from Jaramana in rural Damascus to Sweida Governorate was ambushed on Monday, marking the latest in a series of attacks on humanitarian operations in southern Syria.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the convoy consisted of several civilian vehicles carrying food and relief supplies, accompanied by Syrian Arab Red Crescent vehicles. As it approached the city of Busra al-Sham in eastern Daraa, it was intercepted by an armed group of roughly 20 Bedouin tribesmen on motorcycles.
The attackers seized three aid vehicles and abducted 11 people, including drivers and civilian escorts, while the remaining vehicles managed to reach the Baka area in southern Sweida.
Local sources later confirmed that three of the abductees were being held in security centers, but the fate of the others remains unknown, raising fears for their safety.
During negotiations between General Security forces and the gunmen to secure the release of the captives and confiscated vehicles, a security patrol came under direct fire. The attack left one security officer dead and several others wounded, according to security officials.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has demanded the immediate disclosure of the abductees’ whereabouts and their safe release, warning that continued assaults on humanitarian convoys will severely disrupt aid deliveries to besieged communities in Sweida.
It urged swift intervention from the relevant authorities to secure the region’s roads and ensure the protection of relief teams operating in conflict-affected areas.
US, 'Israel', Syria to meet in Paris to discuss Sweida aid corridor
The Trump administration is currently attempting to negotiate an agreement that would establish an alleged "humanitarian corridor" connecting "Israel" to the city of Sweida in southern Syria to facilitate aid delivery to the Druze community in that region, according to statements from one US official and two Israeli officials who spoke to Axios.
A potential agreement between the Syrian and Israeli governments on a humanitarian corridor risks creating a false impression of progress, which could be exploited to allow "Israel" to achieve further gains in southern Syria.
While a humanitarian corridor could potentially ease conditions in Sweida, where instability persists despite a ceasefire, and the UN has raised alarms over blocked aid routes and worsening security, the Syrian government has warned the US that such a passage might be exploited by Druze militias for weapon smuggling.
US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack is scheduled to hold talks in Paris on Wednesday with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani to broker an agreement, marking the second high-level meeting between the parties in just three weeks after a quarter-century of near-total diplomatic disengagement between "Israel" and Syria.
This follows an unprecedented diplomatic encounter on July 26, when al-Shibani held talks with high-ranking Israeli representatives in Paris, in a meeting facilitated by Barrack, as reported by Ben Caspit in The Monitor.
The report indicates the high-level discussions involved Dermer and Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi, both key allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, representing the outcome of months of discreet diplomatic efforts that had been actively promoted by US President Donald Trump.
