Protesters in Sweida demand 'right to self determination'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen English
25 Oct 2025 17:44

Protesters called for the withdrawal of Damascus forces from their towns and villages in Syria's northern and southern countryside amid the interim government's actions.

Listen

Protesters in Sweida demand the right to self-determination, Karama Square, October 25, 2025 (Social Media)

Dozens of Sweida residents organized a demonstration in the city's al-Karama square to demand their "right to self-determination" and the disclosure of the fates of all those missing and abducted since the last government offensive.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), protesters called for the liberation of their towns and villages in Syria's northern and southern countryside "from armed factions affiliated with the transitional government."

Banners were also raised with slogans written that urged international pressure on the transitional government to allow residents' return to their villages, from which they were forcibly displaced.

للمطالبة بحق تقرير المصير والكشف عن مصير الـ ـمـ ـفـ ـقـ ـوديـ ـن.. احتجاجات متكرّرة وسط #السويداء pic.twitter.com/sjnm72pWXN
— المرصد السوري لحقوق الإنسان (@syriahr) October 25, 2025

Demands also included appeals to influential countries to “save minorities” throughout Syria and build a democratic state.

Sweida's suffering exacerbated by the day

The Syrian Observatory repeatedly pointed to the worsening suffering of the residents in Sweida city and its countryside, as a result of the harsh living conditions amid an ongoing siege imposed on the province by the forces of the Damascus government and an exhausting economic downturn.

For weeks now, the city and most of its towns and villages have also been experiencing a water cutoff as a result of power outages and a shortage of fuel, causing most water pumps to cease operations.

Public bakeries in the governorate have also ceased operations after running out of flour, forcing residents to rely on limited supplies of bread from a few private bakeries, according to an October report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The amount of bread being distributed is insufficient to cover even a quarter of the daily needs, and the Syrian Observatory, according to its sources, confirmed that the private bakeries' own supplies are on the verge of running out unless new shipments of flour arrive soon.

Damascus attempts to reaffirm control over Suweida

The Syrian government frames the upheaval in Suweida Governorate as a challenge to what it describes as national unity, sovereignty, and civil order. It has been declared that the area remains fully part of the Syrian state and emphasizes its duty to protect all citizens, regardless of sectarian or ethnic identity.

Following clashes in the Druze heartland and the ensuing massacres, which claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians in Suweida, Damascus announced a cease-fire, redeployment of security forces, and what it described as a roadmap for the reintegration of state institutions in the region.

It strongly condemned what it termed “horrific crimes” by what it framed as "armed groups", and foreign interference, particularly naming "Israel" as a threat to Syrian territorial integrity.

At the same time, it has claimed that it is committed to investigating violations, despite still withholding results of its previous investigations of similar sectarian massacres in the coastal region, enforcing weapons control in Suweida, and restoring its governance structures, underscoring that the crisis must be resolved under its direct authority and not through parallel local or external forces.