Pro-government Syrian Druze leader visits US for talks on Suweida

A pro-government Syrian Druze leader has visited the United States for high-level security meetings regarding the situation in Suweida.

In a Facebook post, Suleiman Abdul Baqi, who heads the pro-government Ahrar Jabal Al-Arab gathering and officially heads security in Suweida for the Syrian government, said that he went to Washington to “clarify the Syrian state’s approach to enforcing the rule of law and asserting its sovereignty over its entire territory”.

Suweida province, however, is largely under the control of anti-government militias loyal to Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, who has called for separation from Syria while expressing sympathy for Israel.

Abdul Baqi’s home in Suweida has previously been raided by Druze militias, and he has been the target of at least two assassination attempts.

There has recently been speculation, however, that the Syrian government may be seeking to regain control of Suweida, following its capture of most of the territory once held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria.

Abdul Baqi was invited to the US by Congress’s Foreign Relations Committee and reportedly met with several members of Congress to discuss security in southern Syria and Suweida province.

The US’s ally Israel has tried to position itself as a “protector” of the Syrian Druze community, launching airstrikes on Syria under this pretext while seizing land in Syria beyond the Golan Heights, which it occupied in 1967.

It has also demanded the “demilitarisation” of the whole of southern Syria while stating its desire to split Syria along ethnic and sectarian lines.

However, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa has built up a good relationship with US President Donald Trump since coming to power at the end of 2024, and Abdul Baqi said that the US position was “clear in supporting a unified Syria under one leadership, while preserving its sovereignty and stability”.

On Friday, the US’s special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, hailed a prisoner exchange between Druze militias and the Syrian government which took place the previous day, calling it “an important step away from retaliation and toward stability.”

Sixty-one Druze fighters being held at the Adra Prison near Damascus were freed in exchange for 25 Syrian government personnel being held by the Druze “National Guard Forces” militia in Suweida under the supervision of the Red Cross.

Last July fierce clashes broke out between Druze militias and mostly Sunni Bedouin tribal fighters in Suweida. Syrian government forces intervened but were accused of committing crimes against Druze civilians.

They later withdrew as Israel launched strikes.