The Supreme Druze Religious Council, led by Sheikh Mouafek Tarif, has submitted a formal appeal to the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria, urging the body to launch an immediate investigation into what it describes as war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide committed against the Druze community in Syria.
The submission, prepared by the council’s operations room in Julis and signed by international law experts Attorney Yael Vias Gvirsman and Attorney Asem Hamed, presents detailed evidence of massacres, kidnappings, sexual violence, and mass displacement in the southern province of Sweida.
According to the council, the appeal follows months of intensive documentation and fieldwork carried out by volunteers and legal specialists. It alleges that since July 13, 2025, the Druze population of Sweida has been the target of systematic terrorist attacks carried out by jihadist groups, including ISIS (Daesh) and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in coordination with forces belonging to the Syrian Interim Government.
The document cites a series of attacks characterized by executions, sexual assaults, torture, and the deliberate targeting of Druze religious figures and cultural sites.
The data compiled by the council’s operations room indicates that by August 2025, more than 2,000 Druze civilians had been killed, over 8,000 injured, and around 600 kidnapped or disappeared. At least 45 villages were attacked, with 25 completely destroyed, and approximately 220,000 residents displaced from their homes.
The appeal further accuses the Syrian Interim Government of imposing a continuing siege on Sweida, blocking the entry of food, medicine, and humanitarian aid to the region.
In its legal analysis, the council concludes that these acts constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, noting that the violence appears to be directed specifically at the Druze community because of its religious identity.
The letter names senior Syrian Interim Government officials, including Interim Head of State Al-Sharaa (also known as Al-Julani), as bearing direct responsibility for overseeing or condoning the attacks. It accuses the government of concealing its role through hybrid warfare tactics, disguising forces as jihadists, and misrepresenting operations as counterterrorism campaigns.
Council urges preservation of evidence, establishment of safe corridors
The document submitted to the UN Commission of Inquiry calls for an immediate and comprehensive investigation into the massacres in Sweida. It asks the UN to preserve evidence, investigate command responsibility among senior Syrian officials, and take steps to protect civilians still under threat.
The council also urges the Commission to establish safe corridors for humanitarian aid and to refer the situation to international accountability mechanisms if Syrian authorities fail to act.
The submission includes verified visual and digital materials documenting dozens of attacks, reportedly supported by eyewitness testimonies and forensic evidence. According to the council’s legal representatives, the material demonstrates a clear pattern of sectarian targeting and organized violence that mirrors previous genocides perpetrated by ISIS against other minority groups.
Attorney Yael Vias Gvirsman, who directs the Clinic for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law at Reichman University, said the crimes documented in the appeal amount to a deliberate campaign of extermination and persecution. She emphasized that the evidence demonstrates systematic intent and coordination among state and non-state actors.
Attorney Asem Hamed, head of the Druze council’s legal team, said that volunteers operating from the council’s command center in Julis had collected and analyzed the evidence for months, corroborating it with testimonies from survivors and relatives of victims in Sweida.
Vias Gvirsman told The Jerusalem Post that this inquiry is the only one from international actors into the violence faced by Syrian Druze since the fall of Assad’s government and the rise of Al-Sharaa.
“The people of the Druze minority of Syria and their brothers in Israel, brothers and sisters in Israel, are demanding justice,” she added.
Referring to the inquiry, she emphasized that the inquiry was a request for an international investigation. The violence and murder of Druze and other minorities in Syria is deemed ethnic cleansing, and also involves sexual violence against women and girls.
The council draws a parallel between the atrocities in Sweida and other episodes of sectarian violence in the region, such as the Yazidi genocide and recent attacks on civilians in southern Syria. It describes the ongoing violence as part of a state-directed policy of terror and religious persecution designed to eradicate the Druze presence in the area.
The appeal warns that the situation in Sweida continues to deteriorate, with armed groups still active in the region and civilians trapped under siege conditions. It calls on the United Nations and the international community to act swiftly to prevent further massacres and ensure the protection of Druze civilians.
Sheikh Mouafek Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze in Israel, said that the appeal was motivated by an urgent need to bring global attention to what he described as the near-destruction of the Druze community in Syria. He called on the UN and world governments to recognize the severity of the crimes and to intervene before it is too late.
The Druze council said it stands ready to cooperate with international investigators and to facilitate access to witnesses and survivors. Its operations room in Julis continues to collect evidence, coordinate with humanitarian organizations, and monitor ongoing violence in Sweida.
According to the council’s latest reports, the attacks against Druze civilians have continued into late October, with further casualties and displacement reported. The letter to the UN concluded that the international community must not remain silent in the face of what it characterizes as a campaign of annihilation against one of the Middle East’s oldest religious minorities.