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# Sweida’s Druze Are Resisting The New Regime as the Province Pushes for Self-Rule
- URL: https://beirutwire.com/sweidas-druze-are-resisting-the-new-regime-as-the-province-pushes-for-self-rule/
- Published: 2026-09-05T08:22:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-05T08:22:22.000Z
- Description: Sweida remains largely outside the new regime’s control more than a year after devastating violence left thousands brutally murdered. Druze forces have consolidated under the National Guard and demand self-rule as the new regime cannot be trusted to protect the province.
- Author: Beirut Wire
- Tags: Politics

Sweida has become one of the clearest unresolved fault lines in post-Assad Syria. The predominantly Druze province remains largely outside the full control of self appointed President Ahmad al-Sharaa, with the local **National Guard** maintaining their own security structures and resisting efforts by Damascus to disarm them.

The central issue is security and trust. The turning point came in **July 2025**, when fighting involving Druze forces, Bedouin fighters and Syrian regime troops devastated the province. Thousands were brutally murdered, with many Druze residents viewing the violence as proof that they could not safely surrender their weapons and rely on Damascus for protection.

In the aftermath, most of Sweida’s armed factions consolidated into the **National Guard**, aligned with influential Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri. The force now operates checkpoints, guards front lines and performs many of the security functions normally associated with the state. For its people, it is not simply a militia but a defensive structure created after the Syrian state failed to protect the community.

The standoff has continued throughout 2026\. Regime forces and Druze fighters have repeatedly clashed along the western approaches to the province, including around Tel Hadid, Al-Wulgha and Al-Mazraa. Renewed fighting this week left at least ten members of the Regime Forces wounded, illustrating how little the underlying confrontation has changed despite an existing ceasefire.

The dispute is increasingly political as well as military. Al-Hijri and his supporters have moved beyond demanding security guarantees toward advocating significantly greater **self-rule for Sweida**, arguing that the province should not be forced back under a centralized system it no longer trusts. Calls for autonomy, and among some figures outright separation from Damascus, have grown substantially since the 2025 bloodshed.

Israel has also become an important factor. During the July 2025 fighting, Israel struck Regime Forces to protect the Druze and prevent hostile forces from moving toward its border. For many in Sweida, that intervention reinforced the belief that outside guarantees may be necessary to prevent another attack. The regime, however, views Israeli involvement and Al-Hijri’s increasingly open relations with Israel as a direct challenge to Syrian sovereignty.

The result is an increasingly entrenched confrontation. Damascus wants one army, one security apparatus and full sovereignty over the province. Sweida’s dominant factions argue that returning weapons and authority to Damascus without credible protections would expose the community to the same forces it fought in 2025.

For Sweida, the question is therefore no longer simply whether it will reintegrate into Syria. It is **what guarantees, autonomy and security arrangements would make reintegration acceptable at all**.