2018 Suwayda attacks

On 25 July 2018, the Islamic State (ISIL) launched a coordinated series of suicide bombings and armed assaults in and around the city of Suwayda in southern Syria, an area predominantly inhabited by the Druze religious minority. According to Wikipedia's compiled account, attackers first assaulted defensive positions in the city and, after exhausting their ammunition, detonated explosive vests. Syrian state media reported two separate suicide attacks in the city, with security forces killing two additional attackers before they could detonate and arresting another inside Suwaida General Hospital.

Beyond the provincial capital, militants attacked the Al-Mushannaf nahiyah and four villages — Ash-Shbeki, Rami, Ghethet-Hamael and Tarba — temporarily seizing control of several settlements, attacking families inside their homes, and taking hostages. Local residents organized to defend and retake their villages using improvised weapons, without initial support from government forces. Druze militias, including the Men of Dignity movement, the Al-Jabal Brigade, and an independent group called Bayrat Quwat al-Fahad, played a major role in repelling the attackers; a sub-commander of Al-Jabal Brigade was killed in the fighting. The Syrian Social Nationalist Party's armed wing also assisted local defenders, while the Syrian Army reportedly did not arrive until two days after the fighting had ended, though it is also described as having defended some towns.

A separate suicide bombing struck a vegetable market in Suwayda city, causing at least 38 casualties. In the aftermath, three captured ISIL fighters were publicly hanged by local Druze residents in the provincial capital.

Casualty figures varied across reporting stages: health authority officials initially cited roughly 96 dead and 176 wounded, later revised to 215 killed and 180 injured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, put the toll at 258 dead — 142 civilians and 116 government-aligned fighters — plus 63 ISIL fighters killed. Between 14 and 36 Druze women and children were reportedly abducted by ISIL fighters and taken into the desert; some later escaped while others died in captivity. ISIL is reported to have executed captured Druze men and captured Syrian army and National Defence Forces personnel, and threatened to kill the abducted women unless the Syrian army halted operations against ISIL in the Yarmouk basin.

In the following days, the Syrian Air Force bombed ISIL-held villages, and on 31 July 2018 the Syrian Army evacuated ISIL fighters from the Yarmouk basin in exchange for the release of captured Druze women. A subsequent prisoner-exchange proposal involving Jaysh Khaled bin Walid fighters was rejected by ISIL forces in the Badiya desert, who instead demanded ransom; when it was not paid, ISIL executed a captured Druze civilian on 2 August and publicized the killing online. Many Druze residents expressed anger toward the Syrian government over perceived security failures and alleged motives tied to reasserting control over Suwayda's autonomy.