An interview with Bashar Albarouki by Louise (Yochee) Klein
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Bashar Albarouki and his family were visiting family in Sweida, Syria, when they heard the first gunfire.
“At first, we thought it was a wedding or a celebration of some kind. The gunfire continued all day and night and started to get closer and closer to the city. Then, I got a call from my farm guard west of the city in the village of Kanaker. The guard told me that heavy gunfire was taking place in the village, and he needed to send his wife and kids to a safe place in the city after seeing all the families fleeing the village. That was when I realized something bigger was planned for our Druze community. That night was so scary for my kids and wife, but I tried to calm them down.
The next morning, we woke up to a huge explosion noise not too far away from our house. That was the first rocket to hit the city of Sweida.
I rushed the kids down to the first floor and chose a room that was far away from the street and had enough floors above in case more rockets or mortars came down, and I took down all the mattresses and built a box around my kids to protect them from any mortars and metal pieces that could penetrate through the cracks and windows. That was the scariest day and night of my life.” Bashar and his wife, Asala, originally from Syria, are long time Delaware residents. Their children were born here, and their restaurant, Ali Baba, is a familiar destination to many in the Newark community and beyond. Shortly after his return from Sweida, Bashar talked about the political changes in Syria, and how that escalated to the slaughter of more than 2000 Syrian Druze citizens during July and August.
The former President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, was deposed in 2024 and a new government arose, led by Ahmed al-Shara, a former jihadist fighter with past ties to Al Qaeda. The latter made many promises to protect Syria’s religious minorities—Christians, Druze, Alawites, and others—and rein in the extremists in his coalition who considered these groups to be heretics. Mr. al-Shara’s promises helped him to get support from other countries in Europe, the Gulf nations, and the United States. But in March 2025, his own forces and the armed supporters of his government killed hundreds of civilians, starting with members of Bashar al-Assad’s family and members of the same sect.
By the summer, this violence spread to Sweida, starting with a feud between warring militias. Government troops were sent to the area, supposedly to stop the fighting. Instead, they joined in the slaughter of civilians. It was clear that the promises of President al-Shara to protect minorities had instead become a pattern of government and pro-government forces targeting and murdering these minorities.
“The attack continued all day and night and we heard the noise of the mortars getting closer and closer until they hit the house right next to our house. Around 10 PM, after laying on the floor all day and night, I asked my kids if they were ok and they all replied with the same answer. ‘We are ok, but we are hungry and thirsty, and our feet are freezing.’ At that moment I realized how scared they were. The mortars and rockets continued falling on our city all day until the next morning. Then, we did not hear any gunfire anymore and realized there was a ceasefire.
I felt so relieved at the moment, but then I received a call from my cousin asking me to open my house front gate very quickly and I did so. I saw him with another 23 scared family members rushing into our house. When they entered the house, I took advantage of the extra help to bring in the backyard furniture as well as all the shoes from the front door. I asked them why they ran away since there was a ceasefire and things were supposed to get better, but the shocking answer was hard to believe. They said a group of soldiers were in the street calling ‘Allahu Akbar’—God is the greatest—and shooting all the people they saw moving, as well as filling the main roads with military tanks.
Another call from my best friend’s wife’s phone number came. At that moment, my heart stopped because I knew something huge happened. She was screaming and saying, ‘They killed Sameer, Yousef, and Saleh!’ I couldn’t believe what I heard.
‘Yes!’ she shouted again, ‘They killed my husband and my two kids!’ I knew life had changed when I heard that, but I did not feel anything. We celebrated the younger boy’s birthday just a few days ago. I had the video on my phone. Now he was dead.
Another hour passed and we heard many ISIS men shouting at our front gate.
‘Come here! Open this gate! he shouted. ‘Whose house is this?’ he demanded. My neighbor came out and told him, ‘This is Bashar’s house, but he is American and did not come to Sweida this year.’ Then the gunman asked, ‘But whose car is this?’ I forgot to take the car out of the yard.
Then, we heard gunfire. They killed my neighbor. My poor neighbor got killed trying to save us. Another neighbor got called out to the street with the same question and the answer was the same. ‘This is Bashar’s house, but he is in America.’ Another gunshot was heard and another person killed at our door. That was not enough for that terrorist, and he tried to open the big gate. My electric door opener clicked, and my heart stopped beating. I know I locked the gate with the keys and that saved all of us from being killed.”
Government forces and pro-government fighters carried out executions and massacres that occurred during this time. These fighters filmed their actions and circulated the videos online. “They would stop men in the street and demand to know if they are Druze. If they answered, ‘I am Syrian,’ the fighters would order them to say if they were Muslim or Druze. If they answered Druze, they would be shot in the head.” Families would be forced onto the balconies of their homes and ordered to jump or be shot. Bashar’s best friend’s wife didn’t dare open her door to recover the bodies of her husband and sons. They lay in street for days, along with the other dead.
Because of the historical and cultural ties between the Israeli Druze and Syrian Druze, the Israeli Air Force conducted airstrikes to destroy Syrian tanks in Sweida as a warning to the Syrian government to protect the Druze citizens. One of the airstrikes destroyed a tank in front of the house where Bashar and his family were hiding. “We were so grateful that Israel came to help us. Our own government was killing us.”
This uneasy ceasefire on July 16th led the family to take a chance and leave Sweida. Bashar loaded his wife and children into the car, and he drove to one of the highest mountains in the region. He knew the elevation would allow him to get a cellular connection, and he began calling American embassies in Europe. He was able to reach a receptionist in one of them, only to be told to call back the next day because the official had left for the day. Bashar pleaded with her. “Our lives are in danger now! We need to get out of Syria!” The person instructed him again to call back the next day.
Bashar’s next call was to the American Embassy in Israel. He told his story to the person who answered and she responded, “Don’t worry. I have you. We will get you out of there.” She stayed on the line with him while others worked out a plan. He was given driving directions to a destination where they would be met with further help, and a day later the family was flown home from Jordan. Bashar said, “Without their help, we’d be dead.”
Of the people murdered, the vast majority of them were Druze. Once he was back in Newark, Bashar was amazed to find that few people had even heard about the massacre. He has been telling his story in the hope that American politicians will learn about these events, and the ongoing hardships faced by the people in Sweida.
In November, when asked about the current situation in Sweida, Bashar explained, “First, our Druze community is still under siege and 34 villages in the southern and northern parts of the city are still under the government’s control. All of their residents are living in rescue camps, in schools, and hosting houses, so we support on social media and through pressuring the government to get them to withdraw from these villages before winter. Emotional support is required since all of our Druze families went through a lot of hardships and tragedies since July. Last, and most important, is the financial crisis they are facing. No salaries have been paid for the last four months. There’s no government funding or help from the public services, so everything is privately funded and all bought by humanitarian assistance. I tried to help as much as I could before I left and a lot of people who are outside the country are doing the same. Our Druze people in Israel are providing most of the help to keep us alive.”
Bashar concluded, “I know my family’s dangerous vacation did not stop at the 15th of July 2025, but my life has changed. I am sorry I can’t say more than this; I am trying to forget what I have already shared. All that I can say about my wounded city of Sweida is that it’s still under siege. Our Druze community never harmed any human, and we deserve to live in peace like humans. God rest the souls of our 2,027 Druze people that we lost. We got rid of the Assad dictator to replace him with an ISIS radical dictator that is trying to change Syria to an Islamic state and get rid of all minorities like our Druze people. Syria is not safe anymore and my family can’t go there any more just because we were born Druze.”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
BASHAR ALBAROUKI is the owner of the Ali Baba restaurant in Newark, Delaware.
LOUISE (YOCHEE) KLEIN is a member of Congregation Beth Shalom’s Israel Connect Group.
