The Bedouin kidnapping of a Druze member in Sweida caused clashes, civilian deaths, and the Israeli airstrike of the General Staff in Damascus. This military escalation by Israel is part of its criminal aggression throughout the region. Meanwhile, the Syrian government has refused to recognise the democratic rights of the Syrian people. This is our assessment as the International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI) of the latest developments in Syria:
- We categorically reject the military aggression and the policy of air and ground occupation that the Zionist state of Israel maintains in Syria. The Zionist state, while perpetrating the most atrocious genocide of the 21st century in Gaza, has intensified its military aggression in Syria. Zionism is not standing up for the Druze people but is after deepening divisions between the peoples of Syria. They want to strengthen their occupation, especially in the Golan Heights and the south, occupied by Israel in 1967 and home to a Syrian Druze population.
- Responsible for the military escalation and the massacres of civilians in Sweida is the government of Ahmed al-Shara, in power for eight months. Following Assad’s fall, the Shara government focused on power, not rights. This policy has perpetuated the national and religious divisions inherited from the Assad regime. There is not a transparent justice process for the crimes committed by Assad. Nor have they broken with the economic and political powers that supported him. There has been no effective investigation or punishment for the massacres of civilians occurred since March 2011, including the one perpetrated against the Alawite people in March. Sweida’s conflicts stemmed from widespread political exclusion.
Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, allied with Assad and Israel, represents a small minority of Sweida’s Druze. Sweida’s people heroically fought Assad’s dictatorship and for democratic rights, paying dearly. The Druze people do not see genocidal Zionism as their ally, but recognise the people of Syria who continue to fight for freedom as their staunch allies.
The events in Syria once again highlight a fundamental truth: there is an irreconcilable contradiction between the popular revolution launched against the Assad dictatorship under the slogans of freedom and dignity, and the political program of the Shara government. The Syrian government has failed to defend Syria against the Zionist state, nor is it addressing the democratic demands of the Syrian people (Arabs, Kurds, Druze, Bedouin, among others). The “interim administration’s” legitimacy does not derive from the self-proclaimed “Victory Conference.” Only the popular mobilisation of the Syrian people can advance these objectives, such as demanding free elections for a Constituent Assembly that will debate and resolve all the demands of the Syrian people.
We urge Syrian leftists and revolutionaries to unite and create a separate political platform.
The IWU-FI calls for solidarity with the people of Syria and the repudiation of all aggression by the Zionist state of Israel, whether in Syria, Lebanon, or Iran. Meanwhile, we continue to promote mobilisation to support the Palestinian people against the Zionist genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
International Workers’ Unity – Fourth International (IWU-FI)
17 July 2025
