An armed group in Suwayda city, Syria last week massacred a Christian pastor and several members of his extended family as they hid in their house from military clashes in the area, according to published reports.
Amid fighting between government-backed Sunni Bedouins and Druze militias, Pastor Khalid Mezher, a convert from the Druze religion, was killed along with at least 11 members of his family, including six women, on July 16, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR).
“The perpetrators opened fire directly on everyone inside the house, even extending the killing to include the family’s dog, an act that reflects the extreme brutality of the massacre,” SOHR reported.
SOHR identified the assailants as “members of the [Syrian] Ministry of Defense,” which has backed Sunni Bedouin fighters active in southern Syria’s war-torn Suwayda Governorate, though the perpetrators were unidentified in other reports. A local partner aid worker for Christian support group Open Doors, Juliette Amor, told Premier Christian News that an “armed group” killed the family, likely because they were perceived as Druze.
“They were killed when they were hiding in their house from the shooting by an armed group,” Amor, based in Syria, told Premier. “They entered the house and killed them all. So he wasn’t killed because he was a Christian, but because he was from a Druze family.”
Amor said Pastor Mezher, who led the Good Shepherd Evangelical Church in Suwayda city, was a Christian along with his wife and daughter, but that the rest of his relatives were Druze.
He had a prayer team that visited homes and gave people their first knowledge of Christ and the gospel, she said.
“He was serving others and making them more believing in Jesus, but he wasn’t killed because he was Christian. I think the group didn’t know that,” she told Premier.
Other reports put the number killed in the massacre at Pastor Mezher’s home at more than 20.
Days before last week’s violence, leaflets were placed on church doors in Suwayda and Damascus calling for jihad against Christians, urging beheadings, rape of Christian women and plundering of Christian homes, according to Israel365news.
SOHR reported that, following a military offensive by “Syrian government forces” in Suwayda city on July 15, it had documented serious acts against unarmed civilians, including executions, that constituted war crimes under international humanitarian law.
SOHR called for the establishment of an independent U.N. fact-finding committee to investigate crimes committed against civilians in Suwayda to hold all perpetrators accountable, regardless of their positions or affiliations.
The sectarian fighting last week between Sunni Bedouin fighters and militias from the Druze minority came despite announcements of ceasefires on July 15 and 16. More than 1,000 people were reportedly killed in the violence.
Fighting between the Sunni Bedouins and Druze followed the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024 after 13 years of civil war. The government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa was said to have removed Bedouin fighters from Suwayda and deployed security forces to enforce ceasefires, but Druze leaders accuse the government forces of past and ongoing abuses.
Fighting between Druze and Bedouin groups in Suwayda city and surrounding villages began on July 13, with the Syrian transitional government deploying the Syrian Armed Forces to restore order between July 14 and 16, and a ceasefire was announced on July 15. Druze leader Hikmat al-Hijri called for armed resistance, however, and atrocities by both Druze and Bedouins followed.
Another ceasefire was announced on July 16, but Druze groups reportedly committed massacres against local Bedouin tribes, and as many as 50,000 Bedouins moved toward Suwayda. Government forces on Saturday (July 19) reportedly quelled violence.
