The Syrian Future Movement has learned with grave concern and condemnation of the reports in national media and the accounts of residents of the town of Al-Huwaya in the eastern countryside of As-Suwayda, regarding the so-called “National Guard militia” forcibly preventing farmers from accessing their agricultural lands in the Tal Sahn area between the town of Al-Huwaya and the village of Al-Sha’ab on the morning of Thursday, March 12, 2026. This was accompanied by threats of violence and forcing the farmers to leave.
The Syrian Future Movement bases its position on this incident on its declared national principles, foremost among them “the monopoly of weapons and military equipment by the Syrian state” and “the rejection and illegitimacy of all armed militias operating outside the framework of the state.”
The Syrian Future Movement also reaffirms its political program, which states that “the homeland and the citizen are two parallel lines, neither of which can overshadow the other,” and that “a dignified life for the citizen is the state’s ultimate goal.”
The Syrian Future Movement emphasizes the following points:
- Preventing bloodshed and preserving security: Threatening the use of weapons against unarmed citizens seeking to earn their daily bread is a crime that cannot be forgotten. The escalation of the dispute from a verbal altercation to a direct threat of violence reflects the danger of armed groups operating outside the law. This directly contradicts our strategic objective of expelling all foreign forces and sectarian militias and building national state institutions.
- The economic and humanitarian dimension: These lands represent the sole source of income for entire families in the eastern countryside of As-Suwayda. Depriving them of this land at this time exacerbates the economic pressures faced by the population and deprives entire families of their livelihood. At a time when Syria is suffering from a severe economic crisis, striking at these remaining sources of income is an attack on the very fabric of social security.
- The justifications are contradictory: The militia’s claim that preventing farmers was “to protect them from harassment by the Internal Security Forces” is a flimsy and unacceptable pretext, especially after residents confirmed that they “had not been subjected to any harassment by the Internal Security Forces throughout the past period.” We believe this contradiction reveals another objective: an attempt to “seize and plunder the land,” as some residents believe.
In this context, the Syrian Future Movement recalls its positive stance on what became known as the “Tripartite Agreement on Suwaida” in September 2015. The Syrian Future Movement praised the agreement between Syria, Jordan, and the United States to address the situation in Suwaida, considering it “a step towards stability, compensation, and reconstruction.” We believe that incidents like these, if not addressed firmly, reproduce the logic of militias, undermine the fragile trust in the state and its institutions, and strike at the stability efforts that the Movement previously commended.
The Syrian Future Movement warns that the continuation of such practices threatens the project of building a modern civil state, upon which the Syrian Future Movement is founded, and which is based on:
- The rule of law alone, and without any other authority, throughout all territories. Syrian.
- The state’s monopoly on weapons and the elimination of any armed formations outside the framework of the regular institutions (the army and internal security) are essential to achieving “the dissemination of a culture of moderation as a means of reconciliation among the Syrian people.” Therefore, we support dialogue to integrate any militia formation into state institutions during this foundational transitional phase in Syria’s history.
- Protecting the rights of citizens to movement, work, and property ownership, regardless of their background or region, based on the principle that “citizenship is the foundation of the state.”
The Syrian Future Movement calls upon the Syrian government, represented by the Ministries of Interior and Defense, to:
- Conduct an immediate and transparent investigation into the incident and identify the armed group and its affiliation.
- Take immediate measures to guarantee the return of farmers to their lands and the free and safe resumption of their work, under the protection of the law.
- Strictly enforce the principle of state sovereignty in all areas, after exhausting all available avenues for dialogue, and show no leniency towards any armed formation operating outside the framework of the unified military command, in order to achieve “civil and social peace as an urgent necessity and an extraordinary strategic objective.”
The Syrian Future Movement reiterates that the battle to build the new Syrian state is a battle This is a battle against chaos and the remnants of militias, as much as it is a battle against the legacy of the defunct regime.
Justice and dignity for the Syrian citizen will only be achieved by one state, one law, and one army.
