Per-Åke Westerlund is a member of the ISA International Political Committee
More than 1,000 people have reportedly been killed in armed fighting in Sweida city and region in southern Syria in the last week. Behind this is an attempt from the Damascus regime of al-Sharaa to increase its control of the country, a process closely followed by regimes and governments in the region, as well as by US imperialism.
As of Sunday morning 20 July, the second ceasefire declared this week was holding. It seems the main reason is that state forces avoided entering the city, basically leaving it under Druze control. For al-Sharaa the fighting has been a sign of weakness the regime wants to avoid. In the first days of fighting, a few hundred Druze fighters were able to push back the troops of the regime.
For the population, the sudden outburst of armed fighting and killings had shocking consequences. 940 deaths have been reported, 80,000 were forced to leave the city, electricity, water, internet and telephone facilities stopped functioning. Violence against Druze people was reported at universities in Damascus and Aleppo, and elsewhere. A multi-ethnic protest in Damascus against the violence was attacked by plainclothed thugs.
Central power, the Druze and Israel
The fighting in Sweida is to the core a conflict between the central regime and the region’s majority Druze population (Druze is a minority religion stemming from Shia islam). Months of negotiations over the status of the region ended in no agreement. Druze leaders demanded a degree of autonomy, which existed even under Assad, while the Damascus government aimed for a centralised state, something they believe has the support of Washington, and therefore initiated the fighting.
The Druze leaders are divided, with some encouraging Israel and even the US to intervene, while others like the well-known Lebanese Druze leader with strong influence in Syria, Walid Jumblatt, urged compliance with the regime.
For the Israeli government, the fall of Assad, symbolising the collapse of Iran’s axis of resistance and the weakening of Tehran, further increased its ambition as the main regional power. Netanyahu has called al-Sharaa an Islamist and extremist force, and hypocritically claimed to defend Syria’s minorities, the Kurds and the Druze. In the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, a majority of the population are Druze.
The Israeli army has entered a previously de-militarised zone on the border with Syria, not far from Damascus, and conducted massive bombings of military targets in Syria. This was repeated last week, with Israeli attacks in Sweida, but also against the Syrian defence ministry and the presidential palace in Damascus.
Acknowledging Trump’s interest in stability and economic opportunities, the Israeli bombings last week were preceded by warnings, including information to Washington. For Netanyahu’s government, this is about regional power, underlining its present military superiority. Al-Sharaa has condemned Israel’s actions, but will not go further. Trump’s representatives then quickly announced a ceasefire.
Netanyahu’s seven-front war, from Gaza to Iran, is about regional hegemony. He uses every opportunity to stress that Israel is threatened, and its ability to act anywhere in the region. Their main setback from the last month is the failure to achieve regime change in Iran. In Syria, the Israeli state is on track to expand its military presence further. The Israeli government could escalate more, despite Trump’s requests for restraint.
US imperialism and the Gulf States
Since the Assad regime in Syria collapsed in December last year, regimes in the Gulf states have established close links with the new head of the state, the Islamist military leader Ahmed a-Sharaa, and so has Trump, who met him in Saudi Arabia in May. On 30 June, Trump lifted sanctions that alongside the dictatorship of Assad and a decade of civil war had devastated the economy of the country.
These contacts, however, serve to encourage capital investments, not the needs of the people. 90% of the population live under the poverty line in a country where so much of infrastructure and services have been destroyed.
The Gulf monarchies and emirates have quickly intervened, for once with common interests among Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, alongside Turkey. Saudi Arabia and Qatar even shared the payment of Syria’s $15.5 million debt to the World Bank. Money from the Gulf states is paying the wages of the Syrian military forces and state employees. Qatar has signed billion-dollar contracts for gas and power generation. Turkish businesses have also signed huge energy contracts, as well as in construction.
In return, the Damascus government is offering land and ports. A French company has bought Latakia port, with Saudi Arabia and others buying huge swathes of land. Imperialist actions like this follow the pattern from Africa in the last decades in particular. In May, the Syrian government also signed a deal with Chinese companies, offering “economic free zone” conditions.
For Trump and US imperialism, its actions in Syria are part of re-establishing its power in the region. The main aim is to continue the process of the “Abraham Accords”, linking Arab regimes to the state of Israel.
al-Sharaa’s weak government
In place since December 2024, the new regime is obviously not in control of the entire country. The resistance it is meeting in the south is nowhere near the strength of the Kurds in the northeast, who have years of experience of military fighting against ISIS and Turkey. The deal between the central government and the Kurds signed this spring, about integration of the Kurdish forces in a new state army and central authorities to administrate the region, has not been implemented and was always extremely unrealistic.
al-Sharaa has repeatedly declared his government is for all Syrians, all ethnic groups. In reality, the regime is completely controlled by him and the sunni Muslim Islamists that up to last year ruled the north-west of Syria. The latest fighting in the South followed armed clashes in March and April, involving Alawite and the Druze groups respectively.
In parallel with being praised by Trump, al-Sharaa has become a sunni muslim hero in the region, called the new “Lion of sunni”. For the Gulf state rulers, he offers hope of business, influence and some kind of stability.
The next phase for Syria is dependent on the actions of workers and the poor of all ethnic and religious groups. Imperialism, the authoritarian regimes and the Israeli state offer only continued poverty and violence. Syria and the region have a history of struggles from below. This time, it needs democratic organization and a clear program against capitalism, imperialism and authoritarianism.
