Suwayda: Not a local conflict, but geopolitics in disguise

Abstract

The past two weeks have devastated Suwayda, Jaramana, and Syria. 1,448 people are dead so far. A massacre of innocents—at a time when genocide and starvation in Palestine are being normalised, supported, and silenced, painting with blood a new brutal geopolitics. “What makes the deadly massacres in Suwayda even more brutal is the tragedy of betrayal. From Sultan al-Atrash to Kamal Kanj, the Syrian Druze have long resisted partition, insisting that "religion is for God and the homeland is for all." The use of sectarianism as a geopolitical tactic in Suwayda—shared by the governments of both Israel and Syria—reveals a convergence of interests, where both sides consolidate power through violence, at the cost of civilian lives and the destruction of Syrian society. If this tactic persists, the lingering question remains: who will be next?”