Sweida, Syria — On July 17, 2025, a group of armed men executed eight civilians in what’s believed to have been an act of sectarian violence. Among the victims was 35-year-old Hosam Saraya, a dual citizen of the United States and Syria.
A Summary of the Slaying in Sweida
The media discovered this execution after a video of the incident circulated online and on social media. The footage, filmed by someone who appears to be a member of the inciting militia, shows Saraya and seven male relatives marching in a line at gunpoint. Platforms have mostly wiped the video from the internet, but it’s likely to resurface at some point in the future.
According to relatives, the militia dragged male members of the Saraya family from their home with overwhelming force and marched them nearly a football field away to Tishreen Square. Here, they lined them up and opened fire, shooting each victim multiple times. Throughout the video, members of the militia yelled, “Allahu Akbar!” (God is good), a phrase often used during combat or for propaganda.
The only members of the household that the militia left alive were the children and the women, whom they allegedly threatened with rape or death if they resisted.
Who was involved in the Syrian extrajudicial execution?
Hosam Saraya was a U.S. citizen who lived in Oklahoma before returning to Sweida, in southern Syria, to care for his ailing father. While Sweida is predominantly Druze, the ethno-religious group is in the minority throughout the rest of the country, accounting for approximately 700,000 people, according to Britannica. Saraya and his family members were Druze—a fact that may have marked them for sectarian violence.
The identity of the killers is unknown, but reports from Saraya’s family members suggest they may have had ties to the Syrian government. In fact, one of the family members claims a member of the militia stated: “We are the army of Ahmad Al-Jolani,” who ABC reports is the current president of Syria and a former member of al-Qaeda.
To support this theory, several members of the instigating force wore military fatigues and military-grade body armor.
However, conflicting reports mark the killers as possible members of Bedouin tribes, who’ve been involved in conflicts with the Druze since December—more on that below.
So far, there’s been no justice for the victims of this execution, and many of the relatives and sources who’ve come forward to news outlets chose to keep their identities secret out of fear of retaliation from Bedouin or government forces. While Syria’s official stance is that the gunmen had no affiliation with the Syrian government, many citizens are skeptical.
As far as what will happen with the forces who executed Saraya and his family, Syrian official Nour al-Dean Baba told CNN:
“Everyone responsible for these crimes will face justice, regardless of the ethnicity or sect of the victims. As long as they were innocent civilians, such acts are absolutely unacceptable to us and those who committed it will face justice.”
Even so, only time will tell if this situation will ever truly be resolved.
Part of a larger trend of sectarian violence
The Druze and Bedouin communities are separated primarily by differences in religion. As Al Jazeera explains, the Druze follow a minority religion that, though similar to the other major Abrahamic religions, is a unique spiritual system of its own that traces its roots to Ismaili Shia Islam in the 11th century. However, it is distinct from Islam. The Bedouin people, on the other hand, are primarily Muslim.
This extrajudicial execution was but one piece to a broader wave of religious violence that started between the Druze and the Bedouin. According to The Washington Post, hundreds of Syrians have lost their lives in clashes between the two groups since July 13. The turmoil began in the power vacuum left when rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024, putting an end to over two decades of authoritarian rule.
As is explained in an analysis by the Atlantic Council, the Druze and Bedouin have been in conflict for a long time. This seems to be partially religious, partially skirmishes over resources, and partially due to a lack of support from government infrastructure and the near-abandoning of Druze centers such as Sweida. This conflict has only picked up steam in the aftermath of Assad’s fall.
Since then, fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin forces has thrown the country into disarray, exacerbated by Israeli airstrikes and Syrian forces, who locals say have participated in multiple forms of abuse, as Human Rights Watch reports. That said, many are hopeful that this violence will finally end with the ceasefire treaty established between Syria, the Druze, and Bedouin tribes on July 19.