Factions of al-Suwayda' After Assad's Downfall: Interview

As Assad’s forces lost Aleppo and Hama to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-led insurgents in north, they also faced an uprising in southern Syria that contributed to the regime’s collapse. This included local factions in the predominantly Druze province of al-Suwayda’, which formed a ‘joint operations room’ that brought about the final dismantlement of the regime’s security and military apparatuses in the province and assumed primary responsibility for security. The ‘joint operations room’ also comes under the name of the ‘military operations administration in al-Suwayda’,’ which might suggest a nominal tie to the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham-led ‘military operations administration’ that has assumed official military responsibility for security in most areas taken by the opposition from the regime. However, the ‘joint operations room’ in al-Suwayda’ is actually independent.

To talk more about the ‘joint operations room’, its role in recent events in al-Suwayda’ and also the question of whether there should be a confrontation with Israel amid its incursion into Syrian territory, I conducted an interview with Ashraf Jamul of the local faction Faz‘at Shabab al-Jabal, whom I previously interviewed in 2023 when the protests against the regime broke out in the province. The interview is slightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Q: Of course the factions in the north launched the military campaign against the regime first and then the activity began in the south. Was there contact and coordination between you and the factions in the north in order to launch a great battle against the regime, or was the matter basically exploiting the opportunity?