United States particular envoy Tom Barrack lately spoke with a preferred X persona about Syria and, specifically, Suwayda, which has been a hotbed of tensions between the federal government and Israel.
The southern governorate, which is majority Druze, is among the final locations within the nation the place the Syrian authorities doesn’t have full management.
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Barrack referred to “a specific Druze sheikh”, regarded as Hikmat al-Hijri, a number one political and spiritual determine in Suwayda. The Nationwide Guard, a Druze armed group linked to al-Hijri, has been accused of receiving assist from Israel with separatist ambitions.
Barrack’s touch upon al-Hijri is perceived by many as a agency message to Israel, which has attacked Syrian ministries and troopers and tried to curry favour with Syria’s Druze community with the Nationwide Guard accused of performing as an Israeli proxy.
US President Donald Trump has constructed a robust relationship along with his counterpart in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and perceives any instability in Syria as harmful for a rustic making an attempt to rebuild after 13 years of battle.
“[Barrack’s] message was completely clear,” Navvar Saban, a researcher in safety and army affairs on the Arab Heart for Modern Syrian Research, informed Al Jazeera. “Israel backing [al-Hijri] doesn’t equal American backing. Washington has prioritised an settlement with Damascus whereas Israel retains its personal safety calls for and relationship.”
Divergent views on Syria
For the reason that fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the US has slowly rebuilt relations with Damascus and its new chief.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has obtained robust US assist for his assaults in Lebanon, Palestine and Iran, has a view of the brand new Syrian authorities that could be very completely different from Trump’s.
Within the days instantly after the collapse of al-Assad’s authorities, Israel invaded Syria and seized land in Quneitra governorate and different strategically vital areas of the nation.
Israel has threatened President al-Sharaa’s authorities in Damascus, bombed the Ministry of Defence, and harassed and arrested Syrians in southern Syria. Israel has drawn an outcry from Syrian officers resulting from its repeated incursions into Syria.
Barrack, a Trump confidant who’s the US ambassador to Turkiye and a particular envoy to Syria and Iraq, has constructed a repute for his direct strategy to diplomacy, at occasions with out regard to warning, as evidenced when he referred to as some members of the media in Lebanon “animalistic” final 12 months.
On Friday, Barrack spoke to Australian X persona Mario Nawfal and addressed the scenario in southern Syria. He appeared to take the view that Washington favoured Damascus having management over Suwayda moderately than a gaggle aligned with al-Hijri and linked to Israel.
“[Barrack’s] remarks expose variations with Israel,” Nanar Hawach, a Syrian analyst who visited Suwayda in September, informed Al Jazeera. “Washington is constructing a accomplice in Damascus whereas Israel seems to want a Damascus that’s too weak to claim itself within the south.”
Israel and al-Hijri
Having grown bored with their worsening residing situations, residents in Suwayda, together with many in its Druze majority, rose up towards the al-Assad regime in 2023. They maintained their protests till the regime collapsed in December 2024.
Many in Suwayda celebrated this second, which ended greater than 5 a long time of Baathist rule, though they had been additionally hesitant to throw their assist behind the brand new authorities.
That hesitancy turned to blatant opposition to al-Sharaa after preventing between Bedouin tribes and Druze in Suwayda became lethal sectarian killings in July 2025. Forces reportedly related to the federal government joined the preventing on the facet of the Bedouins. Whereas there was violence and dying on either side, the casualties had been overwhelmingly Druze.
Israel intervened within the preventing at one level, attacking what it stated had been Syrian authorities forces coming into Suwayda. Since then, Israel has reportedly been making an attempt to curry favour with locals there, together with al-Hijri, who has been fervent in his opposition to Damascus’s new management.
“Israel seems intent on a long-lasting army presence in southern Syria, and it makes use of Suwayda as a lever towards Damascus, providing sufficient assist to maintain the province reliant on Israeli safety and too little to safe its future,” Hawach stated. “Alongside its line in Quneitra and Daraa [areas of southern Syria that Israel has invaded], Israel treats neighbouring communities in a different way, reviving wartime grievances between Syrians that any future Syria-Israel association would battle to undo.”
In Suwayda, analysts stated, al-Hijri’s assist isn’t common however he advantages each time the Druze group feels beneath assault.
“Sheikh al-Hijri’s authority rises with the group’s sense of risk and opens to debate as that risk recedes, so strain from Damascus tends to strengthen the management it goals to weaken,” Hawach stated. “All sides factors to the opposite’s laborious line to justify its personal. That retains Suwayda’s future framed in safety phrases and crowds out the various residents, clerics and native figures searching for a path between central rule and separation.”
Accountability wanted for reconciliation
After the occasions of July 2025, the US started talks with the Syrian authorities hosted by Jordan to resolve the disaster. A trilateral settlement was signed in Amman in September 2025 that stated Syria would invite an unbiased worldwide fee to analyze what occurred in Suwayda and perpetrators can be dropped at justice.
Whereas main preventing has not resumed between Damascus and Druze factions, the scenario in Suwayda stays in a impasse with many within the province having no belief within the authorities.
“Mistrust has hardened, partly as a result of Damascus has sought to convey Suwayda again by pressuring its management, and residents really feel that strain first, of their salaries, their youngsters’s exams and the highway to the capital,” Hawach stated. “Belief tends to return by what the state delivers. Damascus stands a greater likelihood of successful folks again by serving residents immediately and pursuing accountability for July 2025.”
Analysts stated accountability is essential if Damascus desires to convey Suwayda again into the Syrian fold.
“A sturdy settlement wants credible accountability for what occurred in 2025,” Saban stated. “The Druze have to be assured safety of motion, training and safety. Neither weakening Hijri, nor restoring authorities establishments alone will rebuild the belief.”
