US citizen among eight Druze family members executed in Syria's sectarian violence
Hosam Saraya, a 35-year-old Syrian-American, was identified by friend Bahaa Imad and a US relative as one of eight men whose killing was captured on a video that circulated on social media over the weekend.
The video, which has been geolocated by CNN, shows a group of armed men wearing military uniforms and face masks firing on eight captives while shouting 'God is great.'
CNN cannot independently verify the identify of the gunmen in the video. It has reached out to the Syrian government for comment.
Saraya's brother Kareem and other family members were also executed, according to the US relative, who asked not to be named for her safety. She spoke directly with relatives in Syria who said the family's male members had all been killed – leaving only their wives and daughters.
The killings occurred on July 17 amid an outbreak of sectarian violence between Syrian Druze groups and Bedouin tribes in the Druze-majority Suwayda province.
Saraya, who had studied in Oklahoma before returning to Syria, belonged to the Druze community, an Arab religious group of roughly one million people who primarily live in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. He had gone to Syria to care for his father who was ill, the US relative said.
The relative said female family members who survived the massacre recalled how militants had stormed the family's multi-story home early in the morning, prompting the residents to fight back in defense.
After one of the family members was wounded, the rest surrendered their weapons, she said, and the men were taken outside.
Bahaa Imad, a 20-year-old friend of the Saraya family, corroborated these details, saying he witnessed the militants storm the home and forcibly remove eight men, while leaving female family members inside.
The US relative first learned of the attack when one of the female survivors sent her a desperate message: 'Pray for us, they kidnapped the boys, they shot the house, they stole stuff'.
Twelve hours passed as the family desperately waited for news, hoping their relatives would return safely. It wasn't until another overseas relative saw the videos circulating of their execution that they realized the eight men had been killed.
Imad said relatives later told him the captives were marched 200 meters to Tishreen Square, where they were lined up and executed. One of the men had sent a final message to friends that read, 'Come and help us if you can. They surrounded us,' Imad said.
Imad identified Hosam Saraya's body after watching the video.
'I don't know how monsters can do that,' the US relative told CNN.
Asked about Saraya, the US State Department confirmed Monday that an American citizen had died in Suwayda.
It did not offer details about the death but said it was 'greatly concerned when any US citizen is harmed overseas, wherever they are' and called 'for accountability in all cases where US citizens are harmed abroad.'
Oklahoma Sens. James Lankford and Markwayne Mullin also confirmed the killing of an American from the state in Syria.
'Hosam was an Oklahoman and member of the Druze community who was tragically executed alongside other members of his family in Syria,' Lankford wrote on X. 'We are praying for his family, friends, and the entire community as they grieve this senseless loss.'
Mullin wrote on X that an 'American citizen from Oklahoma' was 'brutally executed alongside his family members in Syria,' adding he was working with partners in the region to learn more. His tweet did not name the Saraya family.
Widespread violence between the Druze minority and Bedouin tribes in southern Syria erupted on July 13 and has left hundreds dead in the latest explosion of sectarian bloodletting since the authoritarian rule of Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a coalition of Islamist rebels.
The violence drew Israeli intervention in support of the Druze, as well as US condemnation and an international scramble to stop the fighting spiraling further.
The Syrian government said over the weekend that clashes in Suwayda had stopped after a ceasefire agreement was reached between the government, Druze groups, and Bedouin tribes.
A separate ceasefire was agreed between Syria and Israel. The deal was announced by US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack, who said it was 'embraced' by Turkey, Jordan and other neighboring countries.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
3 hours ago
- Washington Post
Florida set to execute man for killing wife, 2 kids in new state death sentence record for 1 year
STARKE, Fla. — A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28 .
Associated Press
3 hours ago
- Associated Press
Florida set to execute man for killing wife, 2 kids in new state death sentence record for 1 year
STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of killing his wife and two children with a machete in 1994 is set for execution Thursday, which would be the ninth death sentence carried out in 2025 to set a new state record for a single year. A 10th execution is scheduled for Aug. 19 and an 11th on Aug. 28. A death warrant signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis directs that 60-year-old Edward Zakrzewski be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. Thursday at Florida State Prison near Starke. Zakrzewski's final appeal for a stay was rejected Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest previous annual total of recent Florida executions is eight in 2014, since the death penalty was restored in 1976 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Zakrzewski, an Air Force veteran, was sentenced to die for the 1994 slayings of his 34-year-old wife, Sylvia, and their children Edward, 7, and 5-year-old Anna, at their home in Okaloosa County in the Panhandle. Trial testimony showed he committed the killings after his wife sought a divorce, and he had told others he would kill his family rather than allow that. Sylvia was attacked first with a crowbar and strangled with a rope, testimony shows. Both children were killed with the machete, and Sylvia was also struck with the blade when Zakrzewski thought she had survived the previous assault. Opponents of the execution point to Zakrzewski's military service and the fact that a jury voted 7-5 to recommend his execution, barely a majority of the panel. He could not be executed with such a split jury vote under current state law. The trial judge imposed three death sentences on Zakrzewski. The Action Network, which organized an anti-execution petition, asked people to call DeSantis' office and read a prepared script urging a stay of execution for Zakrzewski. 'Florida does not need the death penalty to be safe. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic story. Justice does not require death,' the script reads in part. Zakrzewski's lawyers have filed numerous appeals over the years, all of which have been rejected. Twenty-six men have died by court-ordered execution so far this year in the U.S., and 11 other people are scheduled to be put to death in seven states during the remainder of 2025. Florida was also the last state to execute someone, when Michael Bernard Bell died by lethal injection on July 15. DeSantis also signed a warrant for the 10th execution this year for Kayle Bates, who abducted a woman from an insurance office and killed her more than four decades ago. Wednesday night, DeSantis issued a death warrant for Curtis Windom, 59, convicted of killing three people in the Orlando area in 1992. His execution is scheduled for Aug. 28. Florida uses a three-drug cocktail for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Islamic State and al-Qaida threat is intense in Africa, with growing risks in Syria, UN experts say
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The threat from Islamic State and al-Qaida extremists and their affiliates is most intense in parts of Africa, and risks are growing in Syria, which both groups view as a 'a strategic base for external operations,' U.N. experts said in a new report. Their report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Wednesday said West Africa's al-Qaida-linked Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin group, known as JNIM, and East Africa's al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab have continued to increase the territory under their control. The experts monitoring sanctions against the two groups said 'the organization's pivot towards parts of Africa continued" partly because of Islamic State losses in the Middle East due to counterterrorism pressures. There are also 'increasing concerns about foreign terrorist fighters returning to Central Asia and Afghanistan, aiming to undermine regional security,' they said. The Islamic State also continues to represent 'the most significant threat' to Europe and the Americas, the experts said, often by individuals radicalized via social media and encrypted messaging platforms by its Afghanistan-based Khorasan group. In the United States, the experts said several alleged terrorist attack plots were 'largely motivated by the Gaza and Israel conflict,' or by individuals radicalized by IS, also known as ISIL. They pointed to an American who pledged support to IS and drove into a crowd in New Orleans on Jan. 1, killing 14 people in the deadliest attack by al-Qaida or the Islamic State in the U.S. since 2016. In addition, they said, 'Authorities disrupted attacks, including an ISIL-inspired plot to conduct a mass shooting at a military base in Michigan,' and the IS Khorasan affiliate issued warnings of plots targeting Americans. In Africa's Sahel region, the experts said, JNIM expanded its area of operations, operating 'with relative freedom' in northern Mali and most of Burkina Faso. There was also a resurgence of activity by the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, 'particularly along the Niger and Nigeria border, where the group was seeking to entrench itself.' 'JNIM reached a new level of operational capability to conduct complex attacks with drones, improvised explosive devices and large numbers of fighters against well-defended barracks,' the experts said. In East Africa, they said, 'al-Shabab maintained its resilience, intensifying operations in southern and central Somalia' and continuing its ties with Yemen's Houthi rebels. The two groups have reportedly exchanged weapons and the Houthis have trained al-Shabab fighters, they said. Syria, the experts said, remains 'in a volatile and precarious phase,' six months after the ouster of President Bashar Assad, with unnamed countries warning of growing risks posed by both IS and al-Qaida. 'Member states estimated that more than 5,000 foreign terrorist fighters were involved in the military operation in which Damascus was taken on Dec. 8,' the experts' 27-page report said. Syria's new interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa led the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, once an al-Qaida affiliate that later split from it. He has promised that the country will transition to a system that includes Syria's mosaic of religious and ethnic groups under fair elections, but skeptics question whether that will actually happen. The experts expressed concern at the Syrian military's announcement of several senior appointments including 'prominent Syrian armed faction leaders' and six positions for foreigners — three with the rank of brigadier general and three with the rank of colonel. 'The ideological affiliation of many of these individuals was unknown, although several were likely to hold violent extremist views and external ambitions," the report said. As for financing, the experts said the HTS takeover in Syria was considered to pose financial problems for the Islamic State and likely to lead to a decline in its revenues. Salaries for Islamic State fighters were reduced to $50-$70 per month and $35 per family, 'lower than ever, and not paid regularly, suggesting financial difficulties,' said the experts, who did not give previous salaries or family payments. They said both al-Qaida and the Islamic State vary methods to obtain money according to locations and their ability to exploit resources, tax local communities, kidnap for ransom and exploit businesses. While the extremist groups predominantly move money through cash transfers and informal money transfer systems known as hawalas, the experts said the Islamic State has increasingly used female couriers and hawala systems where data is stored in the cloud to avoid detection, and 'safe drop boxes' where money is deposited at exchange offices and can only be retrieved with a password or code.
