ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The interim government in Damascus and Druze fighters who control most of Suwayda province were carrying out a prisoner swap on Thursday following talks reportedly mediated by the United States.
Syrian state media aired footage of buses transporting 61 civilians from the Druze-majority province of Suwayda who had been detained during last year’s clashes between the Syrian army and Druze fighters led by spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hajri. In exchange, 25 members of forces affiliated with Damascus are set to be released.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is supervising the process.
"Today, we facilitated the release of 86 detainees between Damascus and Sweida. Of those released, 61 were transferred to Sweida and 25 to Damascus," said ICRC in a statement.
“The ICRC hopes that this operation will pave the way towards possible further releases and dialogue between all parties on other humanitarian concerns, including on the fate and whereabouts of people gone missing in relation to the hostilities in southern Syria since July 2025,” Stephan Sakalian, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, was quoted in the statement as saying.