The fighters in military-style uniforms pointed their rifles at the three unarmed men and ordered them out onto a sunny balcony, before barking at them to pause. “One minute. You want to film them?” one of the attackers asked his partner.
The unfolding horror, which was already being filmed by one gunman on his cellphone, was delayed for a few moments to allow a second fighter to start capturing the events. “Let’s go! Throw yourself over,” the gunmen yelled at their victims, members of Syria’s minority Druze faith.
Two of the attackers shot the men one by one as they clambered over the black railing before their bodies tumbled to the street below, according to the footage circulating on social media.
The victims were Moaz Arnous, his brother Baraa Arnous and their cousin, Osama Arnous, according to a family friend and another cousin who said the video showed the three being killed at their home in the southern city of Sweida on July 16.
The deaths were among 12 execution-style killings of unarmed Druze civilians carried out at three sites in and around Sweida this month by gunmen wearing military fatigues.
Another video shows Mounir al-Rajma, a guard at a communal water well, being gunned down by two fighters after telling them he is Druze, his son said. Another shows a group of fighters forcing eight civilians to kneel in the dust of a roundabout before shooting them dead, according to a friend and relatives.
The bloodshed in Sweida province that erupted in mid-July was initially between local Druze militia and Bedouin tribal fighters and subsequently, government forces who were sent to restore order. The violence killed hundreds of mostly Druze people. Relatives and friends of the victims said they believed Syrian government forces killed their loved ones.
Syria’s Defence Ministry said on July 22 that it was aware of reports that an “unknown group” wearing military fatigues committed “shocking and gross violations” in Sweida. It did not mention execution-style killings targeting Druze people. The Ministry vowed to investigate the abuses, identify those responsible and impose “maximum penalties” on perpetrators, “even if they are affiliated with the Ministry of Defence.”
On the same day, the Interior Ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the circulating videos showing field executions carried out by unidentified individuals in the city of Sweida”.
Syria has been plagued by bouts of sectarian strife since the sudden fall of President Bashar al-Assad and his police state in December 2024 after 14 years of war.
The new government, led by a former Sunni Islamist group that has its roots in global jihad, dissolved Mr. Assad’s Army and sought to integrate dozens of former rebel factions into a national army, but those forces have struggled to fill the security vacuum.
Sweida province is predominantly populated by the Druze community, a distant offshoot of Islam that comprises about 3% of Syria’s pre-war population of 24 million. The atrocities there came four months after a spree of killings against the Alawite minority, with armed factions affiliated to the new government killing hundreds of people in coastal settlements.
The Sweida unrest began on July 13 when longstanding local tensions over land and resources in the province escalated into clashes between local Druze militia and Bedouin tribal fighters, who, like government forces, largely adhere to the country’s majority Sunni faith.
The violence worsened significantly after the Syrian military was deployed to quell the clashes, according to residents, two war monitors and reporters.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights said 1,013 people have been killed in the bloodshed, including 47 women, 26 children and six medical personnel. The group said victims were mainly Druze.
The organisation’s head, Fadel Abdulghany, said it had documented execution-style killings by Syrian troops, Bedouin fighters and Druze groups.
‘Muslim or Druze?’
A forensic pathologist in the city of Sweida, who requested anonymity, said he had examined 502 bodies that had been brought to the Sweida National Hospital during this month’s violence. One was decapitated, and two, including a teenage girl, had their throats slit. Most of the others suffered from gunshot wounds inflicted at close range, he said.
The son of Rajma identified his father in a video filmed outside a school which is less than a mile from their home. Rajma is seen sitting at the school’s entrance as three men in military fatigues are heard screaming at him, “Are you Muslim or Druze?” Rajma answers, “I’m Syrian”, one fighter responds: “What does Syrian mean? Muslim or Druze?” Rajma says: “My brother, I’m Druze.”
Three of the fighters immediately open fire. “This is the fate of every dog among you, you pigs,” one of them says.
In another video, a group of seven fighters in military fatigues carrying rifles are seen guiding eight men in civilian clothes down a sidewalk. The only visible insignia on the fatigues is a small black patch on the right arm of one of the fighters bearing the Islamic declaration of faith.
The eight victims walk in single file. The last man in line was identified as Hosam Saraya, a Syrian-American citizen. And next to him were his father and brother.
The wife of a man in line said men in military fatigues had surrounded their apartment building and demanded that the men inside surrender themselves, promising to question them for a few hours and return them home safely.
Published – July 31, 2025 11:57 am IST
