As-Sweida – August 2025

On August 29, 2025, a large memorial ceremony was held in Samara Square in the city of Sweida for nearly 200 men and women who lost their lives in the recent events in Jabal al-Arab. The scene was solemn… a river of people passing before the coffins, between sorrow and the loud voice of anger. And at the heart of it sat a man who had lost all standing, a man branded a traitor after his name was tied to negotiations that preceded the massacres.

He sat there, unprotected, for hours. Everyone passing by stopped before him – some cursed him, others confronted him with harsh words – then moved on. He did not leave. He did not defend himself. He remained still, silent, as if he had become part of a collective ritual from which there was no withdrawal.

His presence was neither a personal choice nor an attempt to provoke society. It was a reflection of an unwritten law, of a necessity dictated by the wise: before the martyrs, no one is spared. Even those who have fallen in the eyes of the people must attend. For mourning is not only for the victims, but also a space for truth, for reckoning, and for realigning the ranks.

In those hours, anger fused with grief, and unity remained present despite division. Solidarity was neither silence nor reconciliation, but a collective insistence that the community, with all its wounds and contradictions, must face its destiny together.