Reports have emerged that Syrian security forces [Jolani’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorists] raped Druze women and girls during their horrific massacres in Suwayda in July.

Jolani admitted for the first time on 17 August that members of his security forces participated in massacres against civilians from the country’s Druze religious minority in Suwayda over one week in July.

Jolani, the former ISIS and Al-Qaeda commander who took power in Damascus in December, said that Suwayda “witnessed many violations from all sides … some members of the security forces and army in Syria also carried out some violations.”

The state is required “to hold all perpetrators of violations to account,” whatever their affiliation, he added.

Jolani made the comments during a dialogue session with notables from Idlib Governorate and other senior officials.

Jolani previously claimed that his security forces, which are largely comprised of extremists from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other radical Sunni armed factions, were sent to Suwayda on 15 July to stop the violence between Druze factions and Bedouin militias and to protect civilians.

However, various western media outlets, including Reuters and Media Line, confirmed that the killings escalated upon the arrival of government forces.

On Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that a mother and three of her daughters, including a young girl, were raped and then murdered during the attack.

Citing reliable sources, SOHR stated that the killings, which took place near the Al-Koum neighborhood in Suwayda City, were discovered on 17 July after government forces withdrew.

Twelve other members of the same family, including eight women and girls and an elderly man, were also killed. Several were shot at close range, while others were executed inside a car. Some of the women and girls were also raped.

Veteran Palestinian Journalist Wael Essam received photographs confirming the incidents of rape reported by SOHR.

“I can say that the most horrific scene I have witnessed since 2011 in Syria was committed by some of yesterday’s revolutionaries, today’s savages,” Essam wrote on X.

SOHR released footage from the home where the 12 family members were killed. The video showed blood stains on the floor and furniture in the room where the killings took place.

Sharaa and his administration have come under additional pressure to acknowledge atrocities committed by his security forces following the release of a video last week showing the execution in cold blood of a volunteer at the National Hospital in Suwayda on 16 July.A CCTV video showed members of the Ministry of Defense and General Security forcing hospital staff and volunteers to gather and sit on the floor at gunpoint.

After the gunmen began asking the religion of those gathered, one volunteer, 33-year-old Mohammad Abu Hassas, was singled out. After saying that he was Druze, a General Security member hit him in the head with the butt of a Kalashnikov rifle.

As Abu Hassas tried to protect himself, he was thrown to the ground and shot twice in the head. The video shows a gunman dragging his body away, leaving blood stains across the floor behind him.The killing was part of a broader massacre at the hospital carried out by members of a government-linked armed faction, Ansar al-Tawhid (Division 82), against wounded Druze fighters and accompanying civilians.

Pro-Syrian government media initially claimed the hospital massacre was carried out by Druze fighters linked to spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri, while Al Jazeera attempted to deny that Syrian forces executed Abu Hassas, despite the clear evidence shown in the video of what happened.

A month after the massacres, President Sharaa’s forces continue to besiege Suwayda, where hundreds of thousands of people are in desperate need of food, water, gasoline, and other essentials. Suwayda’s hospital also suffers from shortages of medicine and other supplies.Government-affiliated forces continue to open fire on Druze civilians escaping Suwayda by car, while also attacking aid convoys traveling from Damascus to Suwayda.

On 15 August, gunmen in the Deraa countryside opened fire on two vehicles traveling to Damascus on the Suwayda–Beirut road, killing a woman, Nada Adel Amer, and wounding her children. They were shot in the Al-Kahil area near the Al-Jizah checkpoint in Deraa.

On 11 August,  a humanitarian aid convoy departed from Jaramana carrying medical supplies, food, clothing, and baby formula. Before reaching the Busra al-Sham crossing, the convoy was attacked by Syrian government-affiliated armed groups. The aid was looted, and members of the convoy were abducted, including Syrian Red Crescent driver Walid Abu Zaidan.The Syrian president also vowed to hold perpetrators among his forces accountable for atrocities committed against Alawites on the Syrian coast in March. Though at least 1,600 Alawite civilians were massacred in their homes and in the streets over the course of three days, Sharaa has not prosecuted anyone, including those who filmed their own crimes and posted the videos on social media.

The Cradle Media report