SWEIDA, Syria — The primary video opens with Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old Syrian American and 7 different members of his household, strolling in a procession down a avenue, their fingers positioned on the shoulders of the individual in entrance of them, escorted by gunmen sporting fatigues and waving assault rifles.
One of many gunmen says, “We gave you secure passage,” whereas others shout non secular slogans.
One other video shot on July 16 cuts to Saraya and his relations kneeling in the midst of a roundabout. One of many gunmen speaks to a member of the family, his voice changing into extra menacing as his anger mounts. Then the capturing begins, and Saraya and the others collapse to the bottom.
Saraya, a member of the Druze non secular minority, was residing in Oklahoma however had returned to the household residence within the Druze-majority metropolis of Sweida to maintain his unwell father, relations mentioned.
“His father improved, and Hosam was supposed to come back again to Oklahoma in a month. We’re in full disbelief and shock,” mentioned one U.S.-based relative who refused to be recognized, fearing reprisals in opposition to her household in Syria. “We simply by no means thought one thing like this might occur to us.”
Saraya studied finance and accounting at Damascus College earlier than transferring to the U.S. in 2014, the place he earned an MBA at Oklahoma Christian College. Afterward, he labored as an operations supervisor at a senior residence care firm and have become a U.S. citizen. He was single.
Saraya was amongst an estimated 1,380 folks killed in a spasm of sectarian violence that swept via Sweida this month, when combating between Bedouin clansmen and Druze militiamen escalated into armed clashes that drew in Syria’s fledgling authorities and Israel, which mentioned it intervened to guard the Druze group.
Authorities forces have been alleged to quash any combating between Bedouins and Druze, residents and Saraya’s neighbors say. As a substitute they left behind a path of looting, burning houses and the execution of greater than 230 civilians, in line with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a struggle monitor.
Members of the Druze group within the Israel-annexed Golan Heights collect for a rally in solidarity with the Druze group in Syria on July 19.
(Jalaa Marey / AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
This week, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) mentioned he was “heartbroken” by the dying of Saraya, who he mentioned “was an Oklahoman … tragically executed alongside different members of his household in Syria.”
Relations within the U.S. mentioned that they had been interviewed by the FBI. The Syrian authorities has but to succeed in out to the household right here, however mentioned it could maintain all authorities forces accountable for violations.
The violence, the third spherical of sectarian violence to hit Syria because the new Islamist authorities toppled longtime President Bashar Assad 9 months in the past, threatens to convey concerning the disintegration of a rustic struggling to maneuver on from its 14-year civil struggle.
On the Saraya residence in Sweida, indicators of the violence are all over the place — partitions pockmarked by shrapnel from a hand grenade and household photos and mirrors cracked by bullet holes. Sitting morosely within the midst of the destruction, certainly one of his relations, Dima Saraya, 41, recounted what she described as a residing nightmare that left her a widow.
Many of the household was sleeping when gunmen in fatigues surrounded the home round 6 a.m., capturing the lock off the gate earlier than breaking into the home.
Woken up by the commotion, the boys advised the ladies and kids to remain inside whereas they went out to cease the gunmen.
“They didn’t have any weapons. In the event that they did, these folks would have killed them on the spot,” Dima mentioned, including that one of many fighters, who recognized himself as Abu Jaafar, mentioned he was a part of the federal government’s Normal Safety equipment and that they need to include him.
When the boys refused to go, the fighters responded with a sprig of bullets, a hand grenade, and two RPGs to the higher ground. They determined to give up and as Saraya and the others filed out, Dima and the others ran exterior, crying and pleading that the boys keep. One of many fighters pointed his rifle at Dima’s chest and advised her to go inside earlier than he shot her.
Later, Dima mentioned, after the gunmen completed looking the home, their chief reassured her, “Don’t fear. We gained’t harm them. In two hours — or by morning — they’ll be again. I promise they’ll be secure.”
“By then he had already killed them,” Dima mentioned.
A member of Syria’s civil protection works within the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on Syria’s defence ministry headquarters on July 16, 2025 in Damascus.The strikes come amid an escalation in battle between Syrian authorities forces and Druze militia within the southern Syrian metropolis of Sweida. (Ali Haj Suleiman / Getty Photographs)
Smoke billows throughout clashes within the predominantly Druze metropolis of Sweida on July 15, 2025. (Shadi Al-Dubaisi / AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
After the gunmen left, others quickly adopted. Every time a brand new group got here, they accused the household of hiding weapons and searched the home. Every time they looted: One fighter demanded the gold necklace on Dima’s neck and the jewellery from the opposite ladies. One other requested for the keys to one of many vehicles downstairs. One more, in a match of rage, threatened to rape Dima.
By the point the final band of fighters arrived, it was 2:30 within the afternoon. They mentioned they’d execute everybody in the home, Dima mentioned, however then one of many fighters mentioned, “Go away them. There are fairly ladies amongst them.”
They once more demanded jewellery or automobile keys, however Dima replied that there was nothing left to take. When the fighters went exterior to proceed looting, Dima and 14 different members of the family ran to a neighbor’s home and locked the door, staying silent and hoping they wouldn’t be observed.
“We didn’t dare exit to seek for anybody. We have been too terrified,” Dima mentioned.
That evening, as movies of the killings — lots of them gleefully taken by the gunmen themselves as they tortured and executed Druze — surfaced on social media, the Saraya household regarded for indicators of their family members. It wasn’t until the subsequent morning that somebody got here to the door and advised them to come back accumulate the our bodies of their relations.
That process fell to a different relative, Mutassem Jbaai.
“Every physique had greater than 50 bullet holes. There was blood all over the place. It was like they have been mangled,” he mentioned, wincing on the reminiscence.
Members of Syria’s Druze group attend a funeral for its members who have been killed in current sectarian clashes, in Salkhad village in Syria’s southern Suwayda governorate in Might.
(Shadi Al-Dubaisi / AFP by way of Getty Photographs)
The U.S. State Division mentioned on Thursday it was having direct discussions with the Syrian authorities on Saraya’s killing, and that it referred to as for “a direct investigation,” in line with division deputy spokesman Tommy Pigott.
“Hosam and his household deserve justice, and people liable for this atrocity should be held accountable,” Pigott mentioned.
But among the many Saraya household, few imagine the Syrian authorities will do something to convey justice. They level to earlier bouts of sectarian bloodshed which have gone unpunished.
“We will’t reside like this. When Assad fell, we had a little bit of hope and gave them an opportunity,” mentioned the U.S.-based relative. “However because the saying goes, ‘as soon as a terrorist, all the time a terrorist.’ ”
