Streets of Syria’s 'Neutral' Suwaida are Free of Assad’s Photos

 Druze women walk beside Roman ruins in Shahba, in the Sweida governorate of Syria, June 22, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Omar Sanadiki
Druze women walk beside Roman ruins in Shahba, in the Sweida governorate of Syria, June 22, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Omar Sanadiki
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Streets of Syria’s 'Neutral' Suwaida are Free of Assad’s Photos

 Druze women walk beside Roman ruins in Shahba, in the Sweida governorate of Syria, June 22, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Omar Sanadiki
Druze women walk beside Roman ruins in Shahba, in the Sweida governorate of Syria, June 22, 2014. Photo: Reuters/Omar Sanadiki

When touring the Druze city of Suwaida, south of Syria, the visitor feels that he is in a “rebel” city, as he observes that there are no slogans of glorification for the Syrian regime and its symbols across the streets and at the entrance of the province.

Streets and walls are free of any banners with slogans praising the regime and its symbols and army, in addition to the absence of military manifestations in its neighborhoods, except for some few army checkpoints.

In an indication of the refusal of the neutral citizen of Suwaida to engage in the war, the streets of the city and the surrounding villages have lost the pictures of citizens who fell in the ongoing battles in the country.

In fact, the province of Suwaida did not witness any fighting during the long years of war. The area remained peaceful and tens of thousands of people resorted to the city, fleeing areas of conflict, such as Daraa and the suburbs of Damascus. Thus, the scene here differs from that in cities that remained under the control of the regime and which are relatively calm, such as Tartus and Latakia, where billboards carrying slogans and announcements praising the regime can be seen everywhere.

According to a 2010 census, around 700,000 Druze Muslims lived in Syria, equivalent to 3 percent of the total population of about 22.5 million people. The majority lived in the governorate of Suwaida, which had a population of 375,000 people, 90 percent of whom were Druze, 7 percent Christian and 3 percent Sunni.

A journalist from Suweida said on Wednesday: “When the peaceful uprising began in the spring of 2011, the situation in Suweida - also called Druze Mountain - was agitated. Residents drew their inspiration from the memory of the Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash, who revolted against the French occupation in 1925, and protests broke out in the city and its countryside.

However, the different political agenda of the opposition issued by the Syrian National Council and then the Syrian National Coalition did not live up to the expectations of the Druze, because no one mentioned secularism, which is the only guarantee for their security.”

In the midst of this situation, the people of Suwaida chose “neutrality” by avoiding alignment with either the revolution or the regime and abstaining from joining the compulsory service in the army, while not fighting against it, in accordance with the decisions of the leaders of the province.

The streets of the city and the surrounding villages are free of any images of those who were killed in the ongoing battles in the country, and which are widely seen in the cities that are under the Syrian regime control.



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.