News- Middle East: Medical sources in southern Syria's Suwayda province have reported a catastrophic humanitarian situation following brutal attacks by terrorist groups linked to the ruling Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime in Damascus.

Recent reports indicate that both public and private hospitals in Suwayda are overwhelmed due to the violent incidents of the past week.

The medical and health situation in Suwayda has sharply deteriorated since the onslaught by HTS forces began on July 13.

Doctors, nurses, and volunteers have stated that HTS militants targeted the Druze community at the main hospital in Suwayda, resulting in numerous killings.

"It was a massacre," said Dr. Wissam Massoud, a neurosurgeon at the hospital. "The HTS troops came here claiming they aimed to bring peace, but they killed scores of patients, from the very young to the very old."

Local sources report that hospitals are overflowing with wounded individuals, and many corpses have accumulated inside hospital buildings, with some left on the streets and sidewalks.

"They are criminals. They are monsters. We don't trust them at all," said Osama Malak, an English teacher in the city, outside the hospital gates. "They shot an eight-year-old disabled boy in the head."

Dr. Omar Adel Obeid, head of the Suwayda Medical Association, stated that the main hospital has faced immense pressure.

“Its condition is disastrous due to the volume of casualties and the occupation of the hospital for a full day, which resulted in the killing and wounding of some medical staff as well.”

He added that bodies have been accumulating inside and around the hospital for about six days, leading to severe contamination. This figure does not account for the victims and corpses left on the streets and in homes that remain inaccessible.

The medical official noted that hospital staff performed around 500 surgeries over eight days. The head of Suwayda’s Medical Association warned that the humanitarian situation is extremely dire.

Following recent events and ongoing massacres, patients’ conditions have worsened, and they cannot reach hospitals in Damascus due to the dangers posed by terrorist groups along the route. The Syrian ministry of health has also refused to provide the necessary medications.

Obeidah Abu Fakhr, a senior doctor at Suwayda Hospital, reported that some surgeries, even on children, had to be performed without anesthesia, and some minor operations took place in the hospital corridors.

Due to a shortage of medical staff and nurses, patients have been unable to receive proper care, leading to severe wound infections. The province has faced continuous water and electricity outages for 15 days.

A week of HTS-led violence has resulted in over 1,120 deaths and displaced more than 128,000 individuals. Druze fighters, Bedouin groups, and HTS forces have all been drawn into the conflict.

The security situation in Syria under HTS—an offshoot of the al-Qaeda terrorist group—remains tenuous, with incidents of sectarian violence, including the massacre of hundreds of Alawites in March, heightening fears among minority groups regarding the now-dominant militants.

Since President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed on December 8, 2024, Syria has also been plagued by a widespread Israeli occupation across large swathes of the country’s south.

The Druze minority had a history of supporting the Assad government and standing against Israeli occupation and expansionist policies, including in the occupied Golan Heights.

Syria has also been hit by hundreds of Israeli airstrikes, mainly targeting military installations, facilities, and arsenals belonging to Syria’s now-defunct army.

Israel has been widely condemned for the termination of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, and for exploiting the chaos in the Arab nation in the wake of Assad’s downfall to make a land grab.

The United Nations has condemned ongoing Israeli attacks inside Syrian territory and continued violations in and around the buffer zone created as part of the 1974 agreement with Damascus.

The developments came as the UK and EU states have been gradually lifting Syria sanctions since the start of this year.

US President Donald Trump, on a regional tour, announced a decision to lift all sanctions against the administration of Syria's self-proclaimed president, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel.

Jolani has assured the US-led Western countries that Syria will “normalize relations” with Israel, recognize the regime, and exchange ambassadors by the end of 2026.

The HTS-led regime will reportedly hand over the occupied Golan Heights to Israel as part of a looming normalization deal with the illegal entity.

Source: Press TV