Alawites in Daramsuq (Damascus) face forced displacement

SUMARIA, Daramsuq (Damascus) — On the southern edge of Daramsuq, along the road leading to Daraa and Quneitra, lies the neighborhood of Sumaria — long known as the southern gateway to the Syrian capital. For decades, it has been a modest residential area, a refuge for workers seeking livelihoods and a shelter for poor families who found in it a sense of belonging despite harsh living conditions. 

Today, Sumaria is witnessing a campaign of forced displacement carried out by forces claiming to act in the name of the Syrian government. These forces argue that the land belongs to the state because in the 1980s the Assad regime, which the current government doesn’t recognize, built the area for police and army forces. 

In the 2000s, under Bashar al-Assad, many of those army officers and policemen began purchasing the properties outright. Today, the dispute hinges on two competing narratives: one, that these homes were legally bought from the government and remain the rightful property of their predominantly Alawite owners; and two, advanced by Sunni militias, that the homes should revert to the “new Syrian state” and that residents must evacuate immediately.  

In mid-June 2025, the Syrian government issued eviction notices to families in Sumaria, giving them until August 1 to leave. But after media coverage drew international scrutiny, those orders quietly disappeared. 

The first high-profile eviction came directly from the top: President Ahmed al-Sharaa, shortly after consolidating power in Daramsuq (Damascus), went to the Mazzeh neighborhood, to the very house where he once lived, and expelled its current occupants—claiming it had been granted to them by the ousted Assad regime. 

Citing reports from Monte Carlo Doualyia, Syria’s Ministries of Defense and Interior had informed the Sumaria’s mukhtar (’mayor’) that residents were not to vacate their homes, promising that property issues would later be resolved through official channels. Yet many residential families facing eviction say they were told informally to either stay under threat or leave voluntarily. With widespread arrests in the area, residents describe departure as the “less harmful” choice, recalling what happened in previous waves of displacement and violence Suwayda and against Alawites in the Syrian coast. 

The United Nations has voiced deep concern over developments in Sumaria, including reports of forced evictions and abuses against civilians, among them women and children. It urged restraint and called on all parties to avoid rash or violent measures. 

The Supreme Islamic Council of the Alawite community condemned the latest developments, characterizing them as nothing less than “systematic sectarian discrimination.” Reports from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) echoed these concerns, telling alyoumtv that security forces had singled out Alawite residents, carrying out sweeping arrests and issuing ultimatums that men must vacate the district within 72 hours. Such measures, the SOHR said, amount to both discrimination and the forced displacement of Alawites from the Syrian capital. 

The SOHR added that nearly one million Alawites in Daramsuq (Damascus) are living under constant psychological pressure, haunted by the fear of detention or persecution at the hands of the newly empowered Syrian government forces. 

What remains, in the words of local residents, are families searching for shelter where they can preserve both dignity and belonging. Today, Sumaria stands as a stark witness to a homeland caught between a wounded memory and an uncertain future.