al-Hijri Dissolves Legal Committee in Suwayda

Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual leader of the Druze community, announced the dissolution of the “Higher Legal Committee” and the formation of the “Administration Council in Jabal Bashan,” assigning Judge Shadi Marshid to form it.

According to a statement published on Tuesday, April 7, by the Spiritual leader of the Druze Community, the move comes as part of a new phase of organization following the challenges Suwayda (southern Syria) has faced since the events of July 2025.

The statement stressed that the council “must be an administrative edifice built on purely professional standards,” بعيد from any form of quota-sharing, to ensure that the right person is placed in the right position based on academic specialization and experience.

The statement added that the current administration is a “crisis administration” aimed at rescuing society from the consequences of the “siege and the recent aggression,” securing a dignified life for residents, and protecting internal security from any attempts to break the social fabric.

It said the formation of the “legal committee in Suwayda” came at a decisive and fateful moment as a response to an extreme state of emergency during highly critical circumstances. It justified dissolving the body by saying that “preserving dignity, success, and progress in society requires the hands of specialists, and loyalty to the victims comes through building a strong administration that protects and safeguards the rights of their families.”

On April 5, residents of Suwayda gathered in a protest in al-Karama Square, where participants called for the Higher Legal Committee to step down over deteriorating economic and living conditions, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent.

Meanwhile, Suwayda Governor Mustafa al-Bakour issued a decision on April 6 appointing Samer Shafiq Azi as head of Suwayda City Council, without clarifying the details of the decision, especially given that the city is administered by the spiritual presidency.

The local “al-Rased” network said the decision came about eight months after Izzi took the post through community and institutional consensus. He had served as deputy council head since 2022 and became council head in August 2025 after Maher Amro stepped down.

Engineer Samer Shafiq Azi, born in 1985, earned a degree in mechanical engineering in 2010 and worked at the Agriculture Directorate from 2018 until 2022, when he was elected deputy head of Suwayda City Council, according to the platform.

Who Is Assigned to Form the “Administration Council”?

Judge Shadi Marshid, who was tasked with forming the “administration council,” heads the Internal Security Forces in Suwayda, which are affiliated with the spiritual presidency. He was appointed by the “legal committee” on August 19, 2025.

During the era of the former Syrian regime, Marshid worked as an investigating judge, and he continued in that role after the regime fell, with the backing of local factions.

The judge is from the village of Taara in western rural Suwayda. His father, Fayez Marshid, was killed during a raid by government forces on the village on July 14, 2025, according to the local Suwayda News Network.

According to al-Araby, a Qatar-based outlet, the former regime tasked Judge Marshid with summoning about 40 activists from the peaceful protest movement in Suwayda against the former regime, which began on August 17, 2023, for questioning.

The charges, according to a report published by the outlet in September 2024, included “crimes of undermining the prestige of the state, weakening national sentiment, or communicating with external parties and undermining state security.”

Marshid replaced Shakib Nasr, a brigadier general in the former regime, who had headed the Political Security branch in Tartus governorate.

What Was the “Legal Committee”?

The “Higher Legal Committee” in Suwayda was a body created to administer the governorate’s service and security affairs. It was formed by order of the spiritual presidency of the Druze community, which makes up the majority in the governorate, on August 6, 2025, after government forces withdrew.

The committee included six judges, among them Marshid, in addition to four lawyers.

Field data highlighted the scale of the challenges residents face. Although the severity of the crisis varies from one sector to another, all sectors have a direct impact on people’s daily stability.

The “Higher Legal Committee” and National Guard forces continue to run Suwayda’s administrative affairs. Both bodies are affiliated with the Druze spiritual leadership after the committee rejected, in October 2025, any interference by what it called the “Damascus government” in Suwayda’s affairs. At the time, it called on all those engaged in public affairs to uphold the spirit of “national responsibility,” stand united against attempts at “domination and fragmentation,” and work to preserve Suwayda’s dignity and ensure its institutions continue serving people, away from what it described as “subordination and compliance.”

The Suwayda Events

The events in Suwayda began on July 12, 2025, after mutual kidnappings between residents of al-Maqous neighborhood in Suwayda, which has a Bedouin majority, and members of the Druze community, before escalating the following day into reciprocal clashes.

The Syrian government intervened on July 14 to contain the conflict, but its intervention was accompanied by violations against Druze civilians, prompting local factions to respond, including groups that had previously cooperated with the Ministries of Defense and Interior.

On July 16, government forces withdrew from Suwayda after coming under Israeli strikes. The withdrawal was followed by retaliatory violations against Bedouin residents in the province, leading to the arrival of armed tribal convoys in support of them.

Afterward, the Syrian government and Israel reached an agreement, brokered by the United States, to halt military operations.

On August 6, 2025, the Druze spiritual leadership formed the “Higher Legal Committee” in Suwayda, a body tasked with managing the province’s service and security affairs after the withdrawal of government forces. The committee included six judges and four additional lawyers.

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