Supporters of Druze faction raise Israeli flags in Sweida on 7 October anniversary
Supporters of Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri rallied in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Wednesday in solidarity with Israel, marking the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attack of 7 October 2023.
Footage shared on social media showed participants carrying Israeli flags and portraits of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside pictures of Hijri.
Many Druze men also took part in a car procession through the city before gathering in al-Karama Square, according to local reports.
The vehicle used at the front of the procession appeared to carry Israeli licence plates and participants carried banners reading “We will not forget, we will not forgive”.
The Hamas-led attack on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people, and 251 were taken hostage.
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Israel's subsequent genocide in Gaza has since killed at least 74,250 Palestinians and wounded 175,278, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
That total includes at least 1,445 people killed since a ceasefire took effect in October 2025.
Images from Wednesday's protest also showed photographs of people killed in the 7 October attack alongside images of those killed during violence in Sweida.
Rejecting 'extemism'
Wednesday's rally was promoted two days in advance by groups affiliated with the National Guard, an armed coalition linked to Hijri.
In a post on Facebook, a page called “The al-Sumoud Battalion” issued the call for residents to attend what it called a solidarity rally to “honour victims and reject extremism, massacres and violence against civilians”.
“We remember the victims of massacres and violence against civilians in Israel, just as we remember the victims of the massacres in Jabal al-Bashan [southern Syria].
“We face the same phenomenon: extremism and religious and political violence practised by political Islamist groups,” the group said.
The organisers sought to draw a parallel between the 7 October attacks and the violence that took place in Sweida in July 2025, using the slogan "The massacres are many, and the perpetrator is one".
The rally comes amid increasingly close public ties between Hijri and Israel.
Israel has repeatedly presented its intervention in southern Syria as an effort to protect Syrian Druze. During the violence in Sweida in July 2025, Israel struck Syrian government targets, saying it was acting to protect the Druze community.
Pictures of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa were seen burnt and ripped while one protester was quoted by local journalists as saying: “We can no longer live with the government of terrorism and extremism of Damascus… Our loyalty lies with those who protect our existence.”
Another protester said: “We stand against terrorism, which is something shared within all these organisations, like Tahrir al-Sham, Ahmad al-Sharaa or the Syrian government.
“Our stand today is humanitarian against the terrorist attack that happened to us in Jabal Bashan or the attack of 7 October.”
Many protesters thanked the government of Israel and Netanyahu, who they claimed was fighting terrorism.
According to Suwayda 24, a local news page, Rami Ashti, Nawras Azzam and Ghaith Kantar, leaders of Hijri's security office, attended with dozens of armed members.
The protest drew criticism from local sources and many Syrians online who condemned the gathering and said the participants did not represent the province's wider population.
Many said solidarity should instead go to the thousands of children Israel has killed in Gaza.
Sweida has held several pro-Israel rallies since July 2025. That month, fighting between Druze factions, Bedouin tribes and government forces killed almost 2,000, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
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