A call for arms control, enhanced accountability, protection of civilians, and a comprehensive national dialogue
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Damascus – The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) issued a report today documenting the events and violations that occurred in Rif Dimashq and Sweida between April 29 and May 4, 2025. SNHR called for arms control, enhanced accountability, the protection of civilians, and a comprehensive national dialogue.
The report stated that areas in Rif Dimashq and Sweida witnessed a widespread security escalation, including armed clashes, mutual attacks, and serious violations against civilians, with the participation of official and semi-official forces and local factions. These clashes resulted in deaths, injuries, and material damage, amid escalating sectarian rhetoric and Israeli airstrikes, highlighting the fragility of the situation and the need for effective transitional responses.
The report relied on field documentation conducted under complex circumstances, local testimonies, and analysis of visual material, in addition to medical and media sources, to verify violations during the security escalation in Rif Dimashq and Sweida (April 29–May 4, 2025). It faced a number of challenges, most notably the complexity of the facts, limited official data, the risks posed to witnesses, and the delayed flow of information, rendering it a partial document subject to updating.
The report indicated that the clashes resulted in the deaths of 16 members of the Public Security Forces and a number of civilians, including a child, with reports of summary executions and bombing by a Shaheen drone. At least 70 people were injured, including civilians, security personnel, and a Red Crescent volunteer, some of whom were transported in critical condition. Arrests were carried out, and most of the detainees were later released. Despite official and civil efforts to contain the tension, clashes recurred, exacerbating the humanitarian situation and leading to the limited displacement of families who feared an escalation of violence.
These events highlighted the fragility of the security and social situation and the escalation of sectarian conflicts, increasing humanitarian risks and divisions within Syrian society.
The report documented the outcome of the security escalation in Jaramana, Ashrafieh Sahnaya, the Damascus-Sweida Road, and a number of Sweida villages during the period covered, where at least 113 people were killed, including a child, and they were distributed among: security personnel (27), civilians and local militants (37), and people from Sweida Governorate (49). At least 85 people were injured, including security personnel, civilians, children, women, and a Red Crescent volunteer, some of them seriously. The team documented the detention of 112 people in Ashrafieh Sahnaya. 106 of them were released, while six remained in detention, including Raji Farouj, who appeared armed in video clips. A religious shrine was also targeted in the Sweida countryside, in addition to widespread property damage, including dozens of homes, and the burning of 15 homes in the village of Al-Soura Al-Kabira. This highlights the seriousness of the violations and the diversity of their patterns, including killing, detention, religious targeting, and property destruction.
The report demonstrates that the escalation in Jaramana, Ashrafieh Sahnaya, and the Damascus-Sweida Road (April 29–30, 2025) reflects a number of key indicators, including: the use of heavy weapons in populated areas, resulting in casualties, including women and children; mass arrests without legal safeguards; the targeting of civilian facilities and private property; the authorities’ weak capacity to contain the situation despite the declaration of a ceasefire; uneven institutional responses; and the escalation of sectarian rhetoric in the media and digital space, which has impacted universities and social peace. The report recommends strengthening the protection of civilians, adhering to legal safeguards, activating transparency and accountability, and combating hate speech to preserve societal stability and fundamental rights.
The report concluded that the escalation exposed the fragility of the security structure and the weak capacity of institutions to control weapons and prevent outlaw groups, with the overlapping roles of the state and local factions and the occurrence of arbitrary detentions without safeguards. It also highlighted the lack of official transparency and the escalation of sectarian attacks targeting university students, threatening societal peace. The Israeli military intervention exacerbated divisions and complicated the situation, underscoring the need for institutional security reform, enhanced transparency, and the protection of civil rights.
The report concluded with several recommendations:
- Issuing a legal framework for local security management: Issuing transitional laws that clearly define the responsibilities of security agencies and prohibit the delegation of powers to illegal groups, ensuring professionalism and discipline in the implementation of security tasks.
- Reviewing the relationship between the state and local armed groups: Evaluating any informal understandings with local groups, and working to integrate these groups—if necessary—into state institutions through legal and training channels that enhance their performance and hold them accountable.
- Forming an independent committee to document violations: Establishing an interim independent committee, including representatives from civil society, to review security incidents, detentions, and violations and submit its recommendations to the competent authorities.
- Ensuring the freedom and legal security of detainees: Verifying detainees’ files according to fair standards, and guaranteeing their basic rights, including legal representation and communication with their families, with the immediate release of those not proven to have been involved in serious violations.
- Enhancing transparency and institutional communication: Authorities are recommended to issue periodic official reports that include updated information on security incidents, the number of victims, and those arrested, thus enhancing the climate of trust and public accountability.
- Strengthening the role of civil society in prevention and monitoring: Expanding areas of cooperation between civil society and official institutions to monitor violations and provide proactive recommendations that contribute to the prevention of violence.
- Preparing a national plan to control illicit weapons: Developing a gradual plan to disarm weapons circulating outside the state framework, with clear implementation mechanisms, accompanied by community security programs that address the causes of weapon-carrying and support local stability.
- Prohibiting hate speech in public spaces: Issuing executive instructions prohibiting the circulation or dissemination of inflammatory content in universities and the media, and forming internal oversight committees, while ensuring public accountability for violators.
- Diplomatic action to confront foreign military interventions: Activate diplomatic channels with the United Nations and the Security Council to address violations of sovereignty and call for an independent international investigation into external attacks. It is also recommended to launch national programs to promote a shared public discourse and counter sectarian incitement campaigns, thus contributing to building comprehensive national unity.
