Syrian government security forces heading to fight in Sahnaya on April 30, 2025. @sayed_ridha on X
After a spurious audio clip purporting to show a Druze shaykh insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad went viral on social media, government-backed forces, including jihadist groups, attacked the Druze-majority towns of Jaramana and Sahnaya, on the outskirts of Damascus, on April 29-30. Over a hundred people were killed in the fighting.
In early March 2025, pro-government forces massacred thousands of Alawite Muslim civilians in Syria’s coastal regions, prompting CSI to issue a Genocide Warning for religious minorities in Syria.
The Druze, like Alawites and Yazidis, are seen as heretics by most Sunni Muslim scholars, and in Sunni jihadist ideology, it is seen as acceptable, or even obligatory, to kill and enslave them.
Unlike the Alawites, however, the Druze militias were strong enough to fight off the attack on their towns. Israeli forces also carried out bombing raids against government forces in response to the attacks. After several days of fighting, Druze and government forces agreed to a ceasefire.
The attacks, however, underline the dire threat facing religious minorities under the rule of President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al Qaeda leader. CSI’s Genocide Warning for Syria remains in effect.
Massacres during the civil war
Syria’s civil war, which began in 2011, pitted Syria’s brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad against a rebel coalition dominated by jihadist groups. These jihadists, who finally overthrew Assad and seized power in the country in December 2024, repeatedly carried out sectarian massacres of Druzes over the course of the war.
The first major bloodletting came in Idlib province, which was conquered by a rebel coalition led by the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate, in 2015. On June 10, 2015, fighters from the Nusra Front stormed Qalb Loze in Idlib province. The BBC and Reuters reported that militants executed at least 20 Druze men, women, and children.
Over the next nine years, Idlib would be ruled as an Islamic emirate by the Nusra Front and its successor organization, HTS. Nusra’s leader is Abu Muhammad al-Jolani – known today as Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president of Syria.
Under al-Sharaa’s rule, the rest of the Druze population of Idlib was permitted to remain, on the condition that they convert to Sunni Islam. To this day, the Druze of Idlib are still forced to practice Sunni Islam.
Three years later, on July 25, 2018, Islamic State gunmen launched a coordinated series of raids across Druze-majority Sweida province. In those attacks, more than 200 Druze civilians were slaughtered and dozens of women and girls abducted, marking one of the war’s deadliest single-day atrocities.
Blasphemy accusation leads to violence
Similar to many pogroms against Christians in Pakistan, the trigger for the latest round of violence was a dubious accusation of “blasphemy.” On the weekend of April 26-27, an audio clip – supposedly showing a Druze cleric insulting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad – went viral on Syrian social media. In the city of Homs, enraged Sunni Muslims attacked Druze students in the university dormitories.
A few days later, on April 29, armed groups from the Sunni-majority town of Mleiha launched an attack on Jaramana, a Druze-majority suburb of Damascus – apparently with support from security forces in the new Syrian government.
Druze militias in Jaramana and the nearby Druze-majority town of Sahnaya mobilized to protect their people, and clashed with government forces in both towns. The Syrian government sent reinforcements to fight against the Druze – some of whom were wearing patches displaying the flag of the Islamic State (ISIS). Several widely-circulating videos apparently showed government fighters shaving off the mustaches of captured Druze militiamen. (Druze men typically wear a mustache as part of their religious tradition).
The attacks quickly spread to Suweida province, a Druze stronghold in southern Syria on the border with Jordan. Pro-government militias massacred dozens of Druzes traveling along the road from Suweida to Damascus. Druze villages in the province were shelled, and a Druze shrine was burned.
In a statement on May 1, Shaykh Hikmet al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Syria, condemned what he called “genocidal violence” against his people and called for international intervention to protect the Druze.
The intervention was already underway. On April 30, 2025, the Israel Defense Forces conducted “warning strikes” on government positions in and around Damascus. The IDF also claimed to have evacuated several wounded Druze civilians to the Ziv Medical Center in Safed.
In the days that followed, various Druze factions reached ceasefire agreements with the government. But the threat of renewed violence hangs over the Druze. Syria’s other religious minorities, such as Christians and Isma’ilis – who do not have their own self-defense forces or promises of protection from Israel – have been left to wonder when their turn will come.
Religious persecution and existential threat
For many in the Druze community, recent developments in Syria represent an existential threat. This perception stems from their historical experiences with targeted persecution and is heightened by the ideology of Syria’s new ruling factions.
Following government militias’ takeover of Sahnaya, footage emerged showing armed fighters with beards marching through streets while chanting sectarian religious slogans in Arabic, including “Allah for worship, Muhammad for leadership, and we for martyrdom,” and “No to the Alawites, no to the Druzes!”
Renowned Syrian journalist and Assad critic Rami Jarrah, who gained prominence through his documentation of Assad regime atrocities, shared one such video on social media platform X. In his commentary, Jarrah wrote: “After taking over Sahnaya, they roam the streets chanting Sunni supremacist slogans, an army that excludes all other sects, yet claims to represent them. This is sectarian terrorism.”
Self-defense and community autonomy
In response to attacks during the civil war, some Druze leaders moved to erect their own shield. Informal village defense groups formed during earlier assaults have coalesced into well-armed militias.
Most of these militias insist they will not disarm until clear, enforceable guarantees are established to protect their community. That stance has only deepened in recent weeks. As the new government in Damascus called for the disbandment of all militias, many leaders of the Druze refused.
For Syria’s Druze, the recent massacres and threats from government forces have crystallized a painful lesson: under Syria’s jihadist-led government, only a community prepared to defend itself can endure.
Video footage of armed fighters on Facebook: After entering the Druze-majority town of Sahnaya, government troops shout “Allahu Akbar,” and “No to Alawites, no to Druzes.”
