When Syria’s brutal 14-year civil war finally concluded last year, marking the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad, a widespread sense of hope surged through the nation. Many Syrians envisioned a swift return to the homes and lands they were forced to abandon during the conflict.
The devastating war had uprooted over half of Syria’s population, sending millions scrambling for refuge in neighboring countries, while countless others sought safety within their own fragmented nation.
However, the path to a stable future remains elusive. Syria’s challenging transition to new governance has paradoxically triggered new waves of forced migration. This renewed displacement is fueled by a volatile mix of revenge acts, escalating sectarian violence, long-simmering property disagreements, and ongoing occupation of land in southern Syria.
Between late 2024 and mid-2025, a staggering 430,000 Syrians were forced from their homes anew, as reported by the United Nations. This renewed chaos has indiscriminately affected all of the country’s diverse religious and ethnic communities, spanning various regions.
The most significant surge in displacement occurred in the southern province of Sweida, which saw deadly clashes erupt over the summer. Initially, the conflict primarily involved the Druze, a religious minority with a strong presence in Sweida, and their Bedouin neighbors.
As violence escalated in Sweida’s provincial capital in early July, Reem al-Hawaren, a Bedouin woman from a nearby village, recounted watching the unfolding horror for over a week. Deep-seated historical tensions between the Druze and the Bedouin, descendants of nomadic tribes, rapidly spiraled into brutal bloodshed.
The escalating violence swiftly attracted government-aligned forces from Damascus, leading to a more pronounced sectarian dimension. The Bedouin community, like Syria’s new leadership, belongs to the country’s Sunni Muslim majority.
Meanwhile, Druze militias, who maintain control over Sweida Province, have actively resisted government attempts to integrate them into the national military and bring the entire region under the new leadership’s authority. This defiance undermines the government’s broader ambition to reunite a nation left deeply fractured and divided into multiple zones of control by the civil war.
While fierce clashes consumed Sweida’s provincial capital, Ms. al-Hawaren noted that her own village, al-Shahba, situated approximately 10 miles away, remained tranquil. Al-Shahba, much like Sweida, was home to a diverse population of both Druze and Bedouin.
However, the calm shattered on the morning of July 17th. According to Reem (43) and her husband Muhammad (42), Druze gunmen ascended to a rooftop near their home, issuing a chilling ultimatum for all Bedouin residents to vacate the village within the hour.
She and her family sought refuge at a relative’s home, sheltering in fear for three agonizing days. Eventually, the Syrian Red Crescent intervened, evacuating her family and hundreds of other Bedouin residents by bus.
They found themselves displaced to the outskirts of Damascus, where they have remained for months. Despite the immense dangers they encountered during the violence, Reem expressed a deep longing to return to their home.
“By what right did they force us to abandon our homes?” questioned Ms. al-Hawaren, a civil servant with the local water authority, referring to the Druze gunmen. “This is my home, my land. Of course, I will return.”
Recalling the harrowing experience from the hotel on the outskirts of Damascus where her family now shelters, Ms. al-Hawaren described terrifying moments when Druze gunmen commanded her and her neighbors to evacuate. Shortly after, she recounted hearing a terrifying spray of gunfire.
It was only later that she and her husband learned the devastating news: six of their family members had been killed, including her 85-year-old mother-in-law and their 7-year-old niece, Taj.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights reported over 1,300 fatalities from the violence, with nearly 400 civilians among them, predominantly Druze. Another monitoring organization indicated an even higher death toll.
Investigations confirmed that government security forces were responsible for at least one execution of a Druze civilian, with four additional executions of Druze civilians documented, some carried out by individuals in military attire.
Beyond Sweida, numerous other outbreaks of violence, frequently fueled by sectarian strife, have compelled tens of thousands more Syrians to abandon their homes since the government transition in December of the previous year. Long-standing disagreements over land and property ownership further contribute to this displacement crisis.
During the civil war, over 12 million people—more than half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million—were displaced either within the country or to other nations, as reported by the U.N. refugee agency. Since the overthrow of Mr. al-Assad, approximately 2.8 million have managed to return, according to the United Nations.
In certain land disputes, individuals attempting to reclaim their property have actively sought to evict current occupants, a pattern reported by U.N. officials, local police, and various human rights organizations.
While some of these contested territories were unlawfully seized during the recent civil war, many other property disputes trace their origins back several decades.
Many of these contentious cases arise from the former Assad regime’s historical practice of seizing land from specific communities and redistributing it to favored groups, notably the Alawites—a religious minority to which the Assad family belongs.
Consequently, many Alawites now find themselves in a precarious and vulnerable position.
In late August, a significant exodus occurred in the Damascus suburb of al-Soumariya, as hundreds of Alawites fled. This mass departure followed warnings from security forces about an impending inspection of property ownership deeds by the governor’s office, which was then succeeded by a raid, as reported by local residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based war monitoring organization.
The day after the announced deed inspection, armed groups linked to the new government reportedly raided homes and briefly detained local residents. Both a local official and a resident, speaking anonymously due to fear of reprisal, confirmed these events.
In the ensuing days, Damascus Province Governor Maher Marwan Idlibi publicly stated via state media that the events in al-Soumariya were a direct consequence of decades of illicit land grabs and fraudulent real estate transactions orchestrated by the former Assad regime.
According to state media, Mr. Idlibi implored citizens to defer property ownership disputes to the appropriate legal authorities, cautioning against vigilante actions ‘lest chaos arise.’
A 32-year-old Alawite woman, whose identity is withheld for fear of reprisal, shared that she and her neighbors had meticulously prepared their property documents in anticipation of inspections, expecting a government committee. Instead, they were shocked by the arrival of armed forces.
She recounted how almost two dozen officers, clad in military uniforms and some masked, stormed her neighborhood. They forcibly broke through her door, dragged her out by her hair, and subjected her and her brothers to sectarian insults.
She explained that her inability to join her neighbors in fleeing stemmed from a lack of financial resources and nowhere else to seek refuge.
Neither the Interior nor Information Ministries, nor Mr. Idlibi’s office, responded to requests for comment regarding the serious allegations of violence and verbal abuse during the al-Soumariya raid.
Previously, an Interior Ministry spokesman asserted that national military forces were not involved in the evictions. He clarified that the involved forces were relocating individuals connected to the former regime’s military from provincial government-owned buildings, intending to refurbish these structures for the country’s new military personnel.
In the southern province of Quneitra, situated close to the Israeli border, Israeli forces entered Syrian towns mere days after the Assad regime’s overthrow last December.
Following this, Israel has since expanded its presence in the area, leading to the destruction of homes and the displacement of civilians, as corroborated by local officials and Human Rights Watch.
Hiba Zayadin, a senior Syria researcher with Human Rights Watch, emphasized, “Israel’s military forces operating in Syria must not be allowed to indiscriminately seize and demolish homes, or forcibly expel families.”
As a direct consequence, local officials and residents reported the displacement of at least dozens of families.
Israel, however, characterizes these incursions as temporary measures necessary for its own security.