Syrian Christian leaders in Sweida region call for international protection following a week of sectarian violence that left approximately 1,000 people dead
Newsroom (23/07/2025, Gaudium Press )Christian leaders in Syria’s southern Sweida region are urgently calling for international protection following a week of sectarian violence that left approximately 1,000 people dead, including targeted attacks on Druze and Christian communities. The clashes, which erupted on July 13, 2025, have exposed deep fractures in the Islamist-led Syrian government’s ability to maintain order and protect minority groups, raising concerns about its legitimacy and control.
Greek Catholic priest Father Toni Butros of Sweida, in a video widely circulated on X on July 21, pleaded for global attention to what he described as “massacres” targeting civilians in the region. “We demand international protection,” Father Butros said. “We are not minorities; we are part of Syria and have lived here for hundreds of years. We and our Druze brothers live here together.”
The violence began when Sunni Muslim Bedouins and armed tribal groups clashed with Druze and Christian communities, with Syrian government forces reportedly exacerbating the situation. Witnesses identified Syrian troops, recognizable by their fatigues and insignia, as perpetrating atrocities, including shooting Druze civilians in their homes and cars. Christian communities also faced targeted attacks, with churches, including the Greek Melkite Church of St. Michael in Al-Sura, set ablaze. Thirty-eight Christian homes were burned, leaving families homeless.
L’Oeuvre d’Orient, a Catholic charity, reported on July 21 that hundreds of Christians, primarily those displaced by the destruction of their homes, are now sheltering in the Melkite parish in Shorba, the Capuchin Franciscan fathers’ church, and the Greek Orthodox archdiocese in Sweida. These refugees are without access to water, food, or electricity.
Among the victims was Khalid Mezher, an evangelical pastor of Druze origin who converted to Christianity. SyriacPress reported on July 19 that Mezher and 12 family members, including children, were killed when Islamist militants stormed their home. In a separate incident, Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old Syrian American from Oklahoma, was among eight Druze men executed in a filmed attack that circulated on social media over the July 19-20 weekend. A friend of the Saraya family, cited by CNN, suggested the gunmen were militants aligned with the government, though their identities could not be independently verified.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East, led by Patriarch John X, condemned the violence in a July 20 statement, calling for regional and international mediation to halt the bloodshed and protect Syria’s diverse communities. “The Patriarchate joins its voice with the wise of this world to call for an end to the massacres that target the coexistence of all communities,” the statement read.
Analysts argue that the violence underscores the fragility of the government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa. Hélène Sallon, writing for Le Monde, noted that al-Sharaa “not only failed to restore Damascus’s sovereignty over the region but also to establish himself as a unifying and protective figure” amid Syria’s ongoing divisions, 14 years after the civil war began. A regional intelligence source, speaking to Reuters, attributed the chaos to al-Sharaa’s reliance on undisciplined militia groups with ties to Islamic militancy, rather than a cohesive military.
The Sweida clashes follow other recent sectarian attacks. In March, hundreds of Alawites were killed in the western Latakia region by forces aligned with al-Sharaa. On June 22, a suicide bombing at St. Elias Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus’s Dweil’a district killed 25 Christians and injured dozens more.
Nadine Maenza, president of the Washington-based International Religious Freedom Secretariat, described the Sweida violence as a critical test for al-Sharaa’s leadership. “Syria cannot move toward peace while state institutions are involved in committing atrocities and minority communities remain excluded from power,” Maenza told OSV News. She advocated for decentralization and constitutional reforms to ensure equal citizenship, warning that “so long as Islamists operate with impunity and minorities are sidelined by law, violence will persist.”
As the crisis deepens, Christian and Druze leaders continue to appeal for international intervention to safeguard their communities and restore stability to a region scarred by decades of conflict.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCAN News
Related Images:
