Mass Protests Hit Sweida Against HTS Brutality, Israeli Interference
DAMASCUS (Dispatches) -- Mass protests have erupted across Syria, particularly in the southwestern province of Sweida, condemning the brutal massacres of Alawite civilians in the country’s coastal region and denouncing Israel’s ongoing interference in Syria’s sovereign affairs.
Hundreds of Syrians, including women and children, gathered in Sweida’s main square demanding the immediate withdrawal of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants from their villages following recent sectarian violence orchestrated by these extremist groups.
The demonstrators also called for the opening of a vital humanitarian corridor from neighboring Jordan to alleviate the suffering caused by HTS’s imposed blockade on Sweida province.
Protesters vocally rejected the illegitimate HTS regime’s attempts to cover up its crimes through so-called local investigations, insisting that “the aggressor cannot investigate its own crimes” and demanding an impartial international inquiry into the massacres and human rights violations.
Similar protests in Dara’a and the Damascus countryside expressed Syria’s steadfast national unity and fierce rejection of all foreign military and political intervention aimed at destabilizing the country.
The rallies condemned the propaganda and disinformation spread by HTS and their foreign backers, demanding transparency on the fate of hundreds of missing residents.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), HTS militants executed a ruthless campaign in March that resulted in the killing of over 1,600 Alawite civilians in coordinated massacres marked by looting and the burning of homes, an act of sectarian terror designed to break Syria’s social fabric.
Amid this chaos, the Zionist regime has exploited Syria’s challenges to launch repeated airstrikes against Syrian military installations, violating the 1974 ceasefire agreement and further destabilizing the region.
Israel’s aggressive land grab and ongoing violations of Syrian sovereignty have been condemned by the United Nations, which has called for respect of international law and Syria’s territorial integrity.