Months of efforts by US officials helped pave the way for a deal on February 26 that enabled numerous people to be freed by opposing sides in Syria.
Dozens who had been detained in Damascus and Sweida since clashes in July between the Druze in Sweida and government forces in Damascus were released in an exchange. American efforts, including those by United States Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and by Arizona Congressman Abe Hamadeh, played a key role, according to a source with knowledge of the details.
Syrian state media SANA reported, “Syrian Internal Security Forces, in coordination with the Military Police, began transferring 61 detainees to Sweida on Thursday.” This was part of a deal that saw 25 people released by the Druze National Guard that controls Sweida city, situated on the Syrian border with Jordan.
Qutaiba Azzam, director of media relations in Sweida, told SANA that the detainees were being “moved to the al-Matouna checkpoint in the province’s northern countryside to complete the agreed exchange process.”
According to a knowledgeable source, the deal was sealed at the end of February after months of effort. In August, Hamadeh had made an unprecedented trip from Jerusalem to Damascus, his office said at the time. He met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani “to discuss the congressman’s continuing efforts to bring Americans home, advance peace through strength, and advocate for a Syria that looks towards the future and not the past,” the report said.
In September, Shaibani made a historic visit to Washington, where he met with Hamadeh and other US officials and politicians.
Political envoy for the Druze region Khaldoun al-Hijri (a relative of Syrian Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri) met with Hamadeh in Washington, according to the source.
The goals of the DC meeting were to help keep dialogue open, discuss civil society, and build a rapport. The congressman’s office worked incessantly to help move things forward, along with Barrack’s team, helping to pave the way for the current deal.
Red Cross helped facilitate exchange
The exchange took place with the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross. This is the first time that such a deal has taken place between the authorities in Damascus and the Druze in Sweida.
Clashes in July saw the two sides harden their positions. Sweida has been largely cut off from the rest of Syria since then. Israel carried out airstrikes at the time to deter more attacks on the Druze. In recent months, things have changed in Syria. Notably, Israel, Syria, and the US held a trilateral meeting in France in January; the Syrian government signed a deal with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in eastern Syria that has seen Syrian security forces deploy to the east; and US forces are withdrawing from Syria.