In Sweida, 'it’s chaos outside, there are terrorists in the streets'

For three days, Maya* and her family were “besieged” in their apartment in downtown Sweida, in southern Syria. Rockets, shells and other projectiles rained down on residential areas, fired by “Bedouins and government forces who are cooperating together against the Druze community,” according to the 22-year-old student. Explosions echoed just steps from her home. “They make no distinction between the military and civilians,” she said on WhatsApp from a city she described as cut off from the outside world. “Nothing can get in or out, and we only have electricity for 30 minutes or one hour a day, with very little access to news,” the young woman stated. Two sleepless nights had already passed. “It’s hard to sleep with the bombs and the fear.”In the capital of the eponymous province, with a majority Druze population, these scenes of war...