Syria | No peace for Syria without justice

In recent weeks, ceasefires agreed upon several times in the province of Al-Suweida, in southwest Syria, have been violated. Apparently by all sides. And the blame for the escalation of violence cannot easily be placed on one side or the other. The trigger for the recent clashes between Druze and Sunni Bedouins was the kidnapping of a Druze vegetable vendor, which was followed by further kidnappings in revenge, and a massacre in which government troops and allied jihadist militias also participated.

For now, the ceasefire appears to be holding, after Druze militias temporarily recaptured the city of Al-Suweida . However, the situation remains unclear, and it is even more difficult to predict what might happen next in Syria. The ethno-religious conflicts simmering beneath the surface of a supposedly united Syria, which interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa so often emphasizes in his speeches, pose a critical threat to the country's future.

However, the rulers in Damascus lack the authority and probably also the will to resolve conflicts with the minorities – Kurds, Alawites, Druze, etc. – purely peacefully, and instead forgo the idea of rebuilding the Syrian state as a purely Sunni Arab community, as before. The coming months will show how far Al-Sharaa is willing to make concessions to the Kurds in the north , the Druze in the south, or the Alawites in the west.

Given his biography, which includes his militancy as a fighter for the Islamic State (IS) or allied jihadist groups, Ahmad al-Sharaa is likely to have difficulty bringing his Islamist militias, which fought for an Islamic state, into line and integrating them into a democratically constituted state . The massive excesses of violence in recent days, in which people have been executed, prove this once again.

It is essential for the future that both the crimes of Bashar al-Assad's regime and those since his fall are brought to justice. As long as Alawites and Druze can be accused of complicity with the old regime, peace will not return. For this to happen, those specifically responsible must be brought to justice. And those who have killed civilians in recent days must not go unpunished – whether Druze, Bedouin, or fighters with the government-deployed troops.