To:
Representative Josh Reiley
Representative Pat Ryan
Senator Charles Shumer
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
President Donald J. Trump

A Petition from Concerned Citizens and Residents of the United States
We, the undersigned, call upon the United States government to adopt a clear and principled policy supporting the protection, self-determination, political empowerment, and meaningful self-government of the Druze population of A-Suwayda, Syria.
The Druze people of A-Suwayda have endured years of instability, economic deprivation, political marginalization, insecurity, and threats from armed factions and extremist movements. Recent violence has further demonstrated that promises of protection and reconciliation are insufficient when they are not accompanied by enforceable guarantees, humanitarian access, accountable institutions, and the meaningful participation of the people most directly affected.
The United States has a compelling moral and strategic interest in preventing further sectarian violence, protecting vulnerable religious communities, promoting representative government, and helping create conditions under which the people of A-Suwayda may live securely and with dignity.
We therefore respectfully urge the President, the Department of State, the Department of War, and the United States Congress to:

1. Support Druze Autonomy and the Right of Self-Determination in A-Suwayda
The United States should recognize that the repeated failure of Syria’s central authorities to protect the people of A-Suwayda has fundamentally altered the political question facing the region.
The Druze population of A-Suwayda should not be compelled to submit to a government that cannot—or will not—guarantee its physical security, religious freedom, political equality, cultural survival, and meaningful participation in public life.
We therefore call upon the United States to support the right of the people of A-Suwayda to determine their own political future through a free, credible, and internationally observed process.
At a minimum, American policy should support a constitutionally guaranteed autonomous Druze region possessing substantial authority over:
• Local government and civil administration;
• Police and internal security;
• Courts and local justice institutions;
• Education and cultural affairs;
• Healthcare and social services;
• Taxation, budgeting, and economic development;
• Natural resources and public infrastructure; and
• The selection of the region’s political representatives.

Such autonomy must include enforceable guarantees against the unauthorized entry of hostile military, security, or militia forces into A-Suwayda.
Should genuine autonomy within Syria prove impossible, or should the Syrian state continue to threaten, attack, besiege, or systematically deny the rights of A-Suwayda’s people, the United States should be prepared to recognize and support their right to pursue full political independence.
Any decision between autonomy and independence should belong principally to the residents of A-Suwayda and should be determined through peaceful, democratic, and internationally supervised means—not imposed by Damascus, foreign governments, armed factions, or outside political interests.
The United States should work with its allies to establish an international diplomatic framework through which Druze representatives may pursue autonomy or independence without exposing their civilian population to retaliation, siege, ethnic cleansing, or economic strangulation.

2. Protect Civilians and Prevent Sectarian Violence
The United States should use its diplomatic influence, sanctions authorities, intelligence capabilities, and relationships with regional governments to deter massacres, forced displacement, collective punishment, kidnappings, sieges, and attacks upon civilians.
American policy should make clear that individuals and organizations responsible for atrocities against Druze civilians—or against neighboring Bedouin, Christian, Sunni, or other civilian communities—will face investigation and appropriate consequences.

3. Condition American Recognition and Assistance
Any American recognition, diplomatic engagement, sanctions relief, reconstruction assistance, or security cooperation involving Syrian authorities should be conditioned upon measurable protections for religious and ethnic minorities.
These conditions should include:
• Unrestricted humanitarian access to A-Suwayda;
• An end to sieges and the obstruction of food, medicine, fuel, and essential goods;
• Protection from arbitrary arrest, disappearance, torture, and extrajudicial killing;
• Credible investigations of alleged atrocities;
• The safe return of displaced residents;
• Restoration of schools, hospitals, utilities, roads, and communications;
• Respect for locally selected civil and religious leadership; and
• A binding political process that guarantees meaningful local representation and self-government.

4. Provide Humanitarian and Reconstruction Assistance Directly to Local Communities
Congress and the executive branch should authorize humanitarian, medical, educational, agricultural, and infrastructure assistance that can reach the people of A-Suwayda through transparent and accountable local institutions and reputable humanitarian organizations.
Aid should not be diverted, withheld, or used as an instrument of political coercion by armed groups, central authorities, or neighboring powers.

5. Promote Accountability for Atrocities
The United States should support independent investigations into alleged war crimes, sectarian killings, kidnappings, forced displacement, and abuses committed in and around A-Suwayda.
Accountability must apply impartially to government forces, tribal fighters, extremist organizations, local armed groups, and any other party responsible for crimes against civilians.

6. Support and Coordinate Material Assistance to A-Suwayda, Including Assistance Provided by Israel
We recognize and support Israel’s ongoing efforts to provide humanitarian, medical, logistical, protective, and other material assistance to the Druze population of A-Suwayda.
Israel’s Druze citizens maintain profound familial, religious, cultural, and communal ties with the Druze of Syria. Israel also possesses the geographic proximity, logistical capacity, intelligence resources, and military capability necessary to help prevent the isolation or destruction of A-Suwayda’s population.
The United States should therefore work openly and constructively with Israel to expand and coordinate assistance to the people of A-Suwayda.
Such cooperation should include, as circumstances require:
• The delivery of food, clean water, medicine, fuel, generators, communications equipment, shelter materials, and emergency medical supplies;
• The treatment of wounded and seriously ill civilians in Israeli or internationally supported medical facilities;
• The establishment and protection of reliable humanitarian corridors into A-Suwayda;
• Logistical assistance for hospitals, clinics, civil-defense organizations, and humanitarian relief networks;
• Defensive equipment, early-warning systems, communications technology, and other lawful means of protecting civilian communities;
• Support for locally accountable Druze security organizations capable of defending towns, villages, roads, hospitals, and religious sites;
• Intelligence-sharing concerning imminent attacks, extremist infiltration, weapons movements, or preparations for mass violence;
• Assistance in evacuating civilians who face immediate danger while preserving their right to return to their homes;
• Economic and technical assistance that reduces A-Suwayda’s vulnerability to siege or coercion; and
• Diplomatic and, when necessary, protective action to deter forces preparing to attack Druze civilians.
We further call upon the United States to oppose international efforts intended solely to prevent Israel from assisting A-Suwayda while the population remains exposed to massacre, siege, forced displacement, or domination by hostile armed forces.
At the same time, all American and Israeli assistance should be directed toward protecting civilians, preserving the Druze community in its historic homeland, and enabling legitimate self-government. Assistance should not be used to compel the people of A-Suwayda to adopt political arrangements they have not freely chosen.
Material support should be delivered through transparent and accountable channels whenever security conditions permit. Any assistance to local armed organizations should be conditioned upon civilian oversight, respect for human rights, protection of noncombatants, and a prohibition against sectarian revenge attacks.
We ask that the United States refrain from any action that might obstruct Israel’s protection of the Druze. We ask the United States to coordinate with Israel, share the burden of humanitarian and protective assistance, and help transform emergency intervention into a durable international policy for the security and political empowerment of A-Suwayda.

7. Oppose Forced Displacement and Demographic Engineering
The United States should oppose any effort to remove the Druze population from its historic homeland, alter the demographic character of A-Suwayda through coercion, confiscate property from displaced residents, or condition the return of civilians upon political submission.
The homes, land, religious sites, cultural heritage, and civil institutions of the people of A-Suwayda must be protected.

8. Encourage a Peaceful Regional Diplomatic Framework
The United States should engage Syria’s neighbors and international partners in support of a peaceful framework that respects the security and political aspirations of A-Suwayda’s residents without turning the region into a battleground for competing foreign powers.
The protection of the Druze people should not become a pretext for territorial conquest, proxy warfare, collective retaliation, or permanent regional destabilization.

9. Report to Congress and the American People
We ask Congress to require regular public reporting on:
• Humanitarian conditions in A-Suwayda;
• Threats to Druze and other minority communities;
• Progress toward autonomy, local political representation, and self-government;
• Investigations of atrocities and human-rights abuses;
• The delivery and monitoring of American and allied assistance; and
• The conduct of Syrian authorities and other armed actors operating in the region.
Our Appeal

The Druze people of A-Suwayda should not be forced to choose between submission to unaccountable power, domination by armed factions, displacement from their homeland, or perpetual war.
They deserve the opportunity to live securely, govern their own affairs, preserve their religious and cultural heritage, rebuild their communities, and determine their political future through peaceful and democratic means.
We respectfully ask the United States government to place the protection, autonomy, and political empowerment of A-Suwayda’s people among its priorities in Syria and to translate expressions of concern into concrete, sustained, and verifiable action.
We therefore petition the President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, and the United States Congress to support the safety, dignity, self-determination, autonomy, and, if necessary, independence of the Druze population of A-Suwayda, Syria.