Damascus on the back foot: What next for Syria after Sharaa's Sweida setback?

The Debate

The world couldn't believe it last December, when Syria's Assad regime, after decades of iron-fisted rule, suddenly fell like a house of cards. The speed of that collapse exposed how the state had been hollowed out on the quiet. Eight months on, how weak does Syria remain? The government forces of Ahmed al-Sharaa are pulling out from the Druze-majority city of Sweida after bombardment from neighboring Israel and pressure from a United States that’s only just recently offered Damascus a lifeline through the lifting of years-old crippling sanctions.

What just happened in Sweida, what with reports of summary executions of civilians and how other minorities like the Kurds and the Alawites will view the bloodbath, and why the climb down by Damascus?

Looming large is Israel with its own Druze community and its own agenda for perennial foes Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. Is war the only way for a nation that’s occupied the Golan Heights since 1967 and which for now enjoys a clear military supremacy over its neighbours?

Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.