الخط الأمامي✪ 
Yesterday, the Foreign Minister of the Interim Authority, Asad al-Shaybani, appeared in a press conference with the Jordanian Foreign Minister and the American envoy to present what they called a “roadmap” to solve the “crisis” in Suwayda since July. On the surface, the roadmap appears to be an attempt to restore security and stability and protect civilians, but the reality is completely different: what has happened over the past months is the result of sectarian policies and militia practices that have claimed hundreds of lives and forced tens of thousands to displace, amid the complicity of regional powers and the absence of any real justice. Announcing the roadmap is merely an attempt to legitimize the Interim Authority and reproduce its control, while the people remain victims of displacement, poverty, and famine.
The Massacres and Disasters of Suwayda
Since July 2025, Suwayda has witnessed a bloody war waged by the authority, revealing its sectarian brutality and the complicity of regional powers. Clashes erupted between the forces of the Interim Authority and its militias and some Bedouin tribes on one side, and local Druze groups on the other, interspersed with massacres, shelling, kidnappings, looting, and house burnings that left hundreds dead, thousands wounded, and the displacement of over 120,000 people amid a mini-famine. The authority tried to cover up its crimes by sending “police” and sham investigation committees, while the Druze Council of Elders (Mashayakh al-Aql) and popular committees formed a local body whose role did not exceed temporary pacification. Externally, Israel intervened with airstrikes, and the Americans, Jordanians, and the United Nations issued hollow statements, while the aid file was used as a tool of blackmail. What happened was not a local crisis, but a new chapter in the exploitation of Syrian blood and the sharing of ruin between the regime and the intervening powers.
The Remaining Security State
One of the fundamental problems with this agreement is its disregard for the fact that the fall of the head of the previous regime and the most important leaders of its security apparatus does not mean the fall of the security state itself. The methodologies of the apparatuses that established tyranny have not been dismantled, and the roadmap deals with the Ministry of Interior and the judiciary as legitimate references, ignoring that these institutions have been involved for decades in repression and corruption, and remain, even after December 8th, linked to repressive and illegal practices, including the massacres in the coast. Entrusting these same structures with the task of accounting for the results of the independent international investigation committee simply means bestowing false legitimacy upon them and exposes the path of justice to the risk of the usual dilution practiced by the authority towards any issue that touches its interests.
Transition Hinged on Imperialism and Foreign Guardianship
Bringing Jordan, America, and Israel in as direct partners in “guaranteeing security” in the south does not herald any form of national independence, but confirms that Syria’s future and unity are being drawn on the tables of regional and international powers, far from the will of the Syrians themselves who have endured over 15 years of repression and suffering under Assad’s rule and the Interim Authority. This external interference reproduces guardianship over all the country’s affairs, from security to administration and politics, and turns any political transition into merely a facade that does not reflect the true interests of the people. Any transition based on such guardianship is incomplete and distorted, entrenching internal divisions, weakening national unity, and risking the transformation of the demands of the popular revolution into negotiating cards exploited to entrench external influence instead of enabling Syrians to determine their own destiny.
A Revolution Reduced to a “Local Crisis”
The uprising in Suwayda was not merely civil strife or a crisis of confidence with the center, but a living expression of the spirit of the Syrian popular revolution: a rejection of poverty, discrimination, and tyranny, and an insistence on the people’s right to self-determination and managing their own affairs away from the centralization that has drained their wealth and oppressed them for decades. Therefore, attempting to turn this struggle into a “reconciliation” file is merely a way to contain it, whitewash the authority, empty it of its liberating substance, and turn the people’s legitimate demands into mere negotiating papers for the benefit of the center and its ruling elite.
Reconstruction in Exchange for Loyalty and Obedience
The roadmap promises reconstruction and providing aid, but it links these legitimate rights to returning to the institutions of the central state and accepting its logic, reproducing Assad’s old equation: services, jobs, and stability in exchange for loyalty and compliance with the center. Conversely, what the Syrian people need is reconstruction subject to popular oversight, guaranteeing social justice and achieving a fair distribution of wealth, away from projects conditional on donors’ terms, repressive security apparatuses, and imposed policies of obedience, and not conditional on submission to or loyalty to the power center.
Local Police Without Sovereignty
Talk of a local police force representing “all components” hides the bitter truth: its appointment and supervision will be under the control of the same Ministry of Interior, meaning in the hands of the same apparatuses that bombed Suwayda and committed massacres with the support of this authority. This proposition ignores the suffering of the people of Suwayda and their long struggle to break free from the grip of the security center since the era of Assad, and turns the idea of democratic self-administration into merely a colored and modified version of the central security apparatus itself, poised to reimpose control over the province and silence the voice of its inhabitants.
National Unity Imposed from Above
The slogan “combating hate speech” might seem positive on the surface, but it is in reality a tool to silence opposition and prevent any bold voice that exposes the practices of the authority. Experiences since the fall of Assad’s regime prove that this authority completely overlooks the affiliated voices that scream hate speech, giving them support and applause, while silencing all genuine criticism under the slogans of false national unity. The truth is that real unity is not imposed by top-down decisions, but is built through actual equality and social justice that includes everyone, and guarantees every individual the right to express freely, show opposition, and practice it without fear or threat.
The Revolutionary Alternative
Any real and serious roadmap must start from the following principles:
Dismantling the methodologies and practices of the security apparatuses, not just polishing them up to allow the continuation of repression and abuse against Syrians.
Empowering popular committees and local bodies to manage security, services, and reconstruction processes in a way that preserves their specificity and guarantees their full right to self-determination away from repressive centralization.
Public and transparent accountability for all those involved in repression and corruption, and a real activation of transitional justice that includes everyone whose hands are stained with the blood of Syrians during more than 15 years of conflict.
Independence of national decision-making from external guardianship, and elevating the interest of the people above the interests of the authority and the intervening regional and international powers.
Linking reconstruction to social justice and the redistribution of wealth to ensure the rights of the displaced and the most affected areas, and repairing what central policies have corrupted throughout the years of conflict.
Conclusion
The roadmap in Suwayda is merely an attempt to reproduce the Interim Authority and entrench foreign guardianship, while ignoring the suffering of the Syrian people in Suwayda since July 2025 and the demands of the popular uprising for justice and freedom. The authority is trying to polish its security institutions, link reconstruction to obedience, and impose top-down national unity, while the real alternative must be based on dismantling the repressive apparatuses, empowering local popular bodies, holding criminals accountable, independence of national decision-making, and linking reconstruction to social justice and the rights of the affected.
Comrade Abu Jad
Syrian issue
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