Syria announces plan with Jordan, US to restore calm in Druze-majority Sweida

By AFP 16 September 2025, 5:04 pm

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Bedouin fighters gather in front a burned shop at Mazraa village on the outskirts of Sweida, Syria, on July 18, 2025. (AP/Ghaith Alsayed)

Syrian foreign minister Asaad al-Shaibani announce a plan backed by Jordan and the United States to restore calm to Druze-majority Sweida province, which witnessed deadly sectarian violence in July. Israel intervened with strikes to protect the Druze.

The situation in the province has been tense since the clashes, which the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed more than 2,000 people, including 789 Druze civilians “summarily executed by defense and interior ministry personnel,”

“The Syrian government has laid out a clear roadmap for action… that supports justice and builds trust,” Shaibani says in a press conference, adding that the plan involves holding accountable those who attacked civilians, compensating those affected and “launching a process of internal reconciliation.”

The implementation will be accompanied by a United Nations investigation into the violence, according to Shaibani.

Jordanian foreign minister Ayman Safadi, present at the event with US envoy Tom Barrack, says a “joint Syrian-Jordanian-American mechanism” would ensure the plan’s implementation.

The bloodshed erupted on July 13 with clashes between Druze fighters and Sunni Bedouin but rapidly escalated, drawing in government forces and tribal fighters from other parts of Syria.

Israel carried out a series of airstrikes, including on Syrian government forces, in a bid to protect the Druze.