>Under pressure and death threats, a number of journalists and activists have fled Suwayda in recent months as the space for free expression narrows in the Druze-majority southern province.
Submission statement: The article discusses the worsening situation in Suwayda for freedom of speech and journalistic freedoms. The southern region had been de facto autonomous since the massacres of last July triggered an Israeli intervention. In the aftermath of the massacres Hikmat Al-Hijri consolidated control over the region, but relies on ever increasing repression to maintain his grip on power as fractures within Suwayda begin to show.
Segments from the article:
>Barely recovered from five gunshot wounds and a broken leg suffered during an abduction and attempted assassination by Suwayda’s National Guard, Morhaf al-Shaer fled the southern Syrian province last month, making his way on foot through farmland to neighboring Daraa, and from there to Damascus.
>After beginning his career as an independent journalist ten years ago under a pseudonym for fear of the former regime’s security services, when Assad fell al-Shaer was also part of a generation of journalists who sought to build a media discourse that, as he put it, “supports state-building and government and community work.”
>But the path taken by al-Shaer and his peers quickly collided with a new reality taking shape within the Druze-majority southern province.
>For al-Shaer, the pressure began in early 2025 and gradually escalated from smear campaigns to direct threats, before evolving into physical assaults and attempted abductions. His brother, the activist and poet Anwar Farzat al-Shaer, was assassinated outside his home in mid-December 2025. The perpetrators have not been identified, though accusations have been leveled against the National Guard, of which he was critical.
>Roughly three weeks later, al-Shaer was shot and abducted by forces affiliated with the National Guard, who attempted to coerce him into recording forced “confessions,” he told Syria Direct. He was released the following day.
>Accusations of “treason” have been weaponized to deter anyone who strays from the prevailing narrative within the province, which is led by Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. So, having suffered injury and the loss of his brother, and finding no room to work independently, al-Shaer found himself compelled to leave. He is not alone. A number of journalists and activists have been forced to flee Suwayda for Damascus in recent months after facing pressure or death threats.
#Death threats
>“There is no freedom of expression or of the press in Suwayda. If you dissent from the view of al-Hijri’s militias, or agree with the Damascus authorities, you are threatened with death at any moment.” said Nabil al-Said (a pseudonym), a journalist who moves between the southern province and Damascus. “You can work as a journalist, but only if you tell al-Hijri’s narrative or serve the narrative of his group.”
>For her part, journalist Sara Hamid (a pseudonym) left Suwayda for Damascus with her husband several months ago, after threats against both of them increased.
>“Any opinion contrary to the approach the province is taking is grounds for an accusation, reaching the point of treason, after which the Security Office moves against the person, subjecting them to repression and using them to intimidate people—as happened with Sheikh Raed al-Matni and Sheikh Maher Falhout,” she added.
>In late November 2025, Suwayda’s National Guard conducted an arrest campaign targeting several figures opposed to al-Hijri, including Druze clerics.
>Videos soon circulated showing Sheikh Raed al-Matni—previously the commander of a local faction and a prominent supporter of Suwayda’s protest movement before the fall of the regime—being humiliated in custody. Two days later, his body was released to his family showing clear signs of torture.
>Sheikh Maher Falhout, detained at the same time, was also reportedly tortured to death. Months earlier, Karam Mundher—a commander associated with pro-Damascus Druze commander Laith al-Balous—was also killed.
#Red lines
>“They are afraid Druze citizens will say something that does not match their narrative. They are afraid that somebody will say: yes, we suffered a horrific massacre, but there were mistakes we fell into ourselves,” al-Said said. “There is a broad segment of people in Suwayda who reject al-Hijri.”
>“Al-Hijri wants to promote a single narrative that all the Druze are with Israel, are hostile to the Syrian state, reject the authority [in Damascus] and are against Sunnis and Shiites,” he added.
>Similarly, al-Shaer contended that topics such as “national peace or dialogue are taboo, even if opposed to the authority [in Damascus], provided they support the idea of the state.” Anyone working toward that end “is a traitor in their eyes,” he added, accusing the de facto authorities of “sowing an obsession with calling others traitors, and practicing IS-like extremism.”
#Social ‘burning’
>Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, journalist Hamid was often subjected to smear campaigns and social “burning” by the regime itself and figures affiliated to it, but “didn’t care about such campaigns back then, because the community supported us,” she recalled. Today, “the local community does not protect you if they decide to burn you and accuse you of being from the Damascus government,” she said.
>Character assassination laid the groundwork for “most of the cases of kidnapping and murder that took place in Suwayda,” Hamid added. “Beforehand, they would burn the person by calling them a traitor among people and on social media, so the family would not mobilize to call for them. In some cases, they would not only burn the person, but the entire family.”
>“The policy of social assassination practiced by al-Hijri against anyone who takes a rational position is dangerous,” al-Said echoed. He said al-Hijri has been able to sideline the other two top Druze spiritual authorities—Sheikhs of Reason Yousef Jerboa and Hamoud al-Hanawi—through character assassination because of their positions.
>Al-Shaer, now in Damascus, believes dissent is more widespread in Suwayda than it appears on the surface. He holds that many residents “know that al-Hijri exploits people’s blood and strips them of their voice, but cannot criticize or object on social media or in the streets, and instead limit such discussions to guesthouses and private gatherings.”
1 Comment
>Under pressure and death threats, a number of journalists and activists have fled Suwayda in recent months as the space for free expression narrows in the Druze-majority southern province.
Submission statement: The article discusses the worsening situation in Suwayda for freedom of speech and journalistic freedoms. The southern region had been de facto autonomous since the massacres of last July triggered an Israeli intervention. In the aftermath of the massacres Hikmat Al-Hijri consolidated control over the region, but relies on ever increasing repression to maintain his grip on power as fractures within Suwayda begin to show.
Segments from the article:
>Barely recovered from five gunshot wounds and a broken leg suffered during an abduction and attempted assassination by Suwayda’s National Guard, Morhaf al-Shaer fled the southern Syrian province last month, making his way on foot through farmland to neighboring Daraa, and from there to Damascus.
>After beginning his career as an independent journalist ten years ago under a pseudonym for fear of the former regime’s security services, when Assad fell al-Shaer was also part of a generation of journalists who sought to build a media discourse that, as he put it, “supports state-building and government and community work.”
>But the path taken by al-Shaer and his peers quickly collided with a new reality taking shape within the Druze-majority southern province.
>For al-Shaer, the pressure began in early 2025 and gradually escalated from smear campaigns to direct threats, before evolving into physical assaults and attempted abductions. His brother, the activist and poet Anwar Farzat al-Shaer, was assassinated outside his home in mid-December 2025. The perpetrators have not been identified, though accusations have been leveled against the National Guard, of which he was critical.
>Roughly three weeks later, al-Shaer was shot and abducted by forces affiliated with the National Guard, who attempted to coerce him into recording forced “confessions,” he told Syria Direct. He was released the following day.
>Accusations of “treason” have been weaponized to deter anyone who strays from the prevailing narrative within the province, which is led by Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. So, having suffered injury and the loss of his brother, and finding no room to work independently, al-Shaer found himself compelled to leave. He is not alone. A number of journalists and activists have been forced to flee Suwayda for Damascus in recent months after facing pressure or death threats.
#Death threats
>“There is no freedom of expression or of the press in Suwayda. If you dissent from the view of al-Hijri’s militias, or agree with the Damascus authorities, you are threatened with death at any moment.” said Nabil al-Said (a pseudonym), a journalist who moves between the southern province and Damascus. “You can work as a journalist, but only if you tell al-Hijri’s narrative or serve the narrative of his group.”
>For her part, journalist Sara Hamid (a pseudonym) left Suwayda for Damascus with her husband several months ago, after threats against both of them increased.
>“Any opinion contrary to the approach the province is taking is grounds for an accusation, reaching the point of treason, after which the Security Office moves against the person, subjecting them to repression and using them to intimidate people—as happened with Sheikh Raed al-Matni and Sheikh Maher Falhout,” she added.
>In late November 2025, Suwayda’s National Guard conducted an arrest campaign targeting several figures opposed to al-Hijri, including Druze clerics.
>Videos soon circulated showing Sheikh Raed al-Matni—previously the commander of a local faction and a prominent supporter of Suwayda’s protest movement before the fall of the regime—being humiliated in custody. Two days later, his body was released to his family showing clear signs of torture.
>Sheikh Maher Falhout, detained at the same time, was also reportedly tortured to death. Months earlier, Karam Mundher—a commander associated with pro-Damascus Druze commander Laith al-Balous—was also killed.
#Red lines
>“They are afraid Druze citizens will say something that does not match their narrative. They are afraid that somebody will say: yes, we suffered a horrific massacre, but there were mistakes we fell into ourselves,” al-Said said. “There is a broad segment of people in Suwayda who reject al-Hijri.”
>“Al-Hijri wants to promote a single narrative that all the Druze are with Israel, are hostile to the Syrian state, reject the authority [in Damascus] and are against Sunnis and Shiites,” he added.
>Similarly, al-Shaer contended that topics such as “national peace or dialogue are taboo, even if opposed to the authority [in Damascus], provided they support the idea of the state.” Anyone working toward that end “is a traitor in their eyes,” he added, accusing the de facto authorities of “sowing an obsession with calling others traitors, and practicing IS-like extremism.”
#Social ‘burning’
>Prior to the fall of the Assad regime, journalist Hamid was often subjected to smear campaigns and social “burning” by the regime itself and figures affiliated to it, but “didn’t care about such campaigns back then, because the community supported us,” she recalled. Today, “the local community does not protect you if they decide to burn you and accuse you of being from the Damascus government,” she said.
>Character assassination laid the groundwork for “most of the cases of kidnapping and murder that took place in Suwayda,” Hamid added. “Beforehand, they would burn the person by calling them a traitor among people and on social media, so the family would not mobilize to call for them. In some cases, they would not only burn the person, but the entire family.”
>“The policy of social assassination practiced by al-Hijri against anyone who takes a rational position is dangerous,” al-Said echoed. He said al-Hijri has been able to sideline the other two top Druze spiritual authorities—Sheikhs of Reason Yousef Jerboa and Hamoud al-Hanawi—through character assassination because of their positions.
>Al-Shaer, now in Damascus, believes dissent is more widespread in Suwayda than it appears on the surface. He holds that many residents “know that al-Hijri exploits people’s blood and strips them of their voice, but cannot criticize or object on social media or in the streets, and instead limit such discussions to guesthouses and private gatherings.”
!ping MIDDLE-EAST