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US Envoy Barrack Warns of "Grief" as Syria's Suwayda Tensions Flare
(MENAFN) US envoy Tom Barrack voiced alarm on Saturday over a fresh spike in tensions in Syria's southern Suwayda province, calling on all parties to show restraint and return to dialogue.
"We are dismayed by the renewed escalation in Suwayda," Barrack wrote on X.
Referencing a trilateral roadmap for peace brokered nearly a year ago alongside Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Barrack said the agreement was designed to secure "the dignified reintegration of the province into Syria, with the full rights and the full obligations of citizenship for its Druze community."
"That path remains the only one that leads anywhere but back to grief," he said.
Barrack called Syria's Druze community "a people of noble and ancient history," while cautioning that governance gaps risk being exploited by armed factions. "Where governance is absent, gangs fill the void," he said, pointing to the case of Atef Hunaidi, who he said had been "arbitrarily detained and driven from his home." Barrack noted his team remained in touch with Hunaidi and others impacted by "intracommunal violence."
He called for sustained cooperation among Druze communities, Arab tribes, and neighboring states, stressing that relations must be grounded in "tolerance and understanding."
"The Syrian government has begun to confront the grave crimes committed by its forces last July and to hold those responsible to account before its courts," he said. "That is the direction of hope, and it must continue."
Suwayda has remained under a ceasefire since July 2025, following clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters that left hundreds dead or wounded. Factions linked to Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri have faced repeated accusations of breaching the truce, while Damascus has upheld the ceasefire and supported evacuations and humanitarian relief efforts.
Barrack said progress hinges on "dialogue that delivers accountability, restores security, and opens the road for the displaced to return and for what was destroyed to be rebuilt."
"This is a sensitive hour," he said, calling for "restraint in action, and communication in earnest."
Since the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, Syrian authorities have worked to reestablish security and expand state control across the country, even as multiple armed groups continue to act independently.
"We are dismayed by the renewed escalation in Suwayda," Barrack wrote on X.
Referencing a trilateral roadmap for peace brokered nearly a year ago alongside Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, Barrack said the agreement was designed to secure "the dignified reintegration of the province into Syria, with the full rights and the full obligations of citizenship for its Druze community."
"That path remains the only one that leads anywhere but back to grief," he said.
Barrack called Syria's Druze community "a people of noble and ancient history," while cautioning that governance gaps risk being exploited by armed factions. "Where governance is absent, gangs fill the void," he said, pointing to the case of Atef Hunaidi, who he said had been "arbitrarily detained and driven from his home." Barrack noted his team remained in touch with Hunaidi and others impacted by "intracommunal violence."
He called for sustained cooperation among Druze communities, Arab tribes, and neighboring states, stressing that relations must be grounded in "tolerance and understanding."
"The Syrian government has begun to confront the grave crimes committed by its forces last July and to hold those responsible to account before its courts," he said. "That is the direction of hope, and it must continue."
Suwayda has remained under a ceasefire since July 2025, following clashes between Bedouin tribes and Druze fighters that left hundreds dead or wounded. Factions linked to Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri have faced repeated accusations of breaching the truce, while Damascus has upheld the ceasefire and supported evacuations and humanitarian relief efforts.
Barrack said progress hinges on "dialogue that delivers accountability, restores security, and opens the road for the displaced to return and for what was destroyed to be rebuilt."
"This is a sensitive hour," he said, calling for "restraint in action, and communication in earnest."
Since the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime in December 2024, Syrian authorities have worked to reestablish security and expand state control across the country, even as multiple armed groups continue to act independently.
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