Family says US citizen killed in Syria’s Suwayda

WASHINGTON — The US State Department said Monday that an American citizen was killed during the unrest in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda last week.

The family identified the victim as 35-year-old Hosam Saraya, a member of Syria’s Druze religious minority. Video circulating online, which Al-Monitor cannot independently confirm, purported to show the execution-style shooting of Saraya and members of his family.  

Early Wednesday morning, a group of armed men raided a home near Suwayda’s city center and abducted the seven Druze men inside, Saraya’s cousin Hala Saraya told Al-Monitor. A second cousin of Saraya’s who requested anonymity due to fear of attribution provided a similar account. They said the men who broke into the home were wearing uniforms that indicated they were Syrian government forces.  

“That's when we started calling the American Embassy in Jordan,” he said. “The response we received was, basically, ‘We can't do anything, and we've been telling you not to go [to Syria] since 2012.’” 

Just before sunset on Wednesday evening, Hosam and his six male relatives were shot to death by uniformed men in the city’s Tishreen Square, his cousins said. Family members identified their bodies the following day, and buried them immediately. 

Reached for comment, a State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the death of a US citizen in Suwayda but declined to identify him. 

“Time and time again, Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio has emphasized the importance of prioritizing the safety and security of US citizens everywhere in the world,” the official said, adding that the department is providing consular assistance to the family.

“We are greatly concerned when any US citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are. The United States calls for accountability in all cases where US citizens are harmed abroad,” the official said. 

Al-Monitor has reached out to the Syrian government for comment.

Saraya’s family, which provided Al-Monitor with a copy of his US passport, says he gained American citizenship about five years ago while living in Oklahoma. After earning his master’s degree from Oklahoma Christian University in 2016, he went on to establish an online school for Syrian students. He spent the past year in Suwayda caring for his ailing father but was planning to return to Oklahoma in a few weeks.

Hundreds of Syrians have been killed since clashes triggered by the abduction of a Druze merchant erupted on July 13 between Druze militiamen and Sunni Bedouin fighters in Suwayda and the government forces who back them. 

The Syrian government dispatched troops to Suwayda, and Israel, which has its own sizable Druze population, intervened with airstrikes it said were aimed at protecting the Syrian Druze and keeping its border demilitarized. 

The violence has threatened to reignite sectarian conflict some seven months after the overthrow of longtime Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. Over the weekend, US special envoy for Syria Tom Barrack announced a ceasefire between Syria and Israel, and Rubio called on Damascus to prevent “violent jihadists” from “carrying out massacres” in the country’s south.   

“They must hold accountable and bring to justice anyone guilty of atrocities including those in their own ranks,” Rubio said in a statement posted on X. 

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said Friday there are credible reports indicating that Syrian government forces, as well as local Druze and Bedouin fighters, are responsible for violations including executions, arbitrary killings, kidnappings and lootings. The violence has led to a mass displacement of the population, Turk said.

The United Nations’ International Organization for Migration says more than 128,500 people have been displaced since the clashes began over a week ago. As part of the US-backed truce, the Syrian government on Monday began evacuating Bedouin families from the predominantly Druze city. 

The cousin of Saraya who requested anonymity said the family has been in touch with the US State Department, as well as Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma. At least nine US citizens — all of them Druze — remain in Suwayda, the cousin said. 

Many Syrian Druze and other minorities remain wary of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda commander who led the rebel overthrow of the former regime in December. In a major policy shift, President Donald Trump met with Sharaa in Riyadh two months ago and announced he would lift sanctions on the war-ravaged country. Some critics say the administration moved too quickly by rescinding sanctions without imposing conditions, such as greater protections for Syria’s minority communities. 

In a televised speech Saturday, Sharaa said Suwayda “remains an integral part of the Syrian state,” adding that “the Druze community forms a fundamental pillar of Syria’s national fabric.”

This story has been updated since its initial publication. Jared Szuba contributed to this report.