Sweida (Arabic: ٱلسُّوَيْدَاء, romanized: as-Suwaydāʾ), also known as Suwayda, is a mainly Druze city located in southern Syria, close to the border with Jordan, with small Christian and Sunni Muslim Bedouin minorities.
It is the capital of Suwayda Governorate, one of Syria's 14 governorates, bordering Jordan in the South, Daraa Governorate in the West and Rif Dimashq Governorate in the north and east.
On 27 November 2024, a coalition of Syrian revolutionary factions called the Military Operations Command, led by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported by allied Turkish-backed groups in the Syrian National Army (SNA), launched an offensive against the Ba'athist regime's armed forces in Idlib, Aleppo and Hama Governorates in Syria. It initially began as a localised offensive targeting towns in the Idlib and Aleppo countryside, later evolving into a nationwide campaign that culminated in the toppling of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
On 29 November 2024, HTS and later the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) entered Aleppo and captured most of the city, amid the collapse of pro-government forces. The next day, opposition forces made rapid advances, capturing dozens of towns and villages as pro-government forces disintegrated, and advanced toward Hama in central Syria, subsequently capturing it on 5 December. By 6 December, the SDF captured Deir ez-Zor in an offensive east of the Euphrates, while the newly formed Southern Operations Room and Al-Jabal Brigade captured Daraa and Suwayda in an offensive in the south. The HTS advanced further south toward Homs. The US-backed Syrian Free Army (SFA) took control of Palmyra in the southeast of the country.
The Syrian Revolution Victory Conference, officially titled the Conference for Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution (Arabic: مؤتمر إعلان انتصار الثورة السورية), was held at the Presidential Palace in Damascus, Syria, on 29 January 2025. It was attended by the commanders of various armed revolutionary factions that fought for the Syrian opposition coalition against the deposed regime of Bashar al-Assad, with the exception of the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Southern Operations Room, and groups from Suwayda. It was organized by the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham-led Syrian caretaker government under de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The meeting praised the successful Syrian Revolution which resulted in the fall of the Assad regime on 8 December 2024. In the conference, Military Operations Command spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani announced that al-Sharaa had been appointed the president of Syria for the transitional period and laid out the new government's priorities, most of which involved eliminating traces of the deposed Ba'athist regime and rebuilding Syrian institutions.
Suwayda or As-Suwayda Governorate (Arabic: مُحافظة السويداء, romanized: Muḥāfaẓat as-Suwaydā’); officially Sweida Governorate; is one of the fourteen governorates (provinces) of Syria. It is the country's southernmost governorate, covering an area of 5,550 km, and is bordered by Daraa governorate in the west Rif Dimashq governorate in the north and northeast, and the country of Jordan in the south and southeast. The capital and largest city of the governorate is Suwayda.
Geographically the governorate comprises almost all of Jabal al-Druze, the eastern part of Lajat, and a part of the arid eastern steppe of Harrat al-Sham. Both Suwayda and Daraa governorates are part of the historic Hauran region.