Syrian American returned to Syria to tend to his ailing father. He was executed in sectarian violence

Sweida, Syria – The first video opens with Hosam Sarayaya, a 35 -year -old Syrian American and seven other seven members of his family, walks in a regiment in a street, placed on the shoulders of the person in front of him, accompanied by armed wearing tired and shook the attack rifles.

One of the armed men says, “We have given you a safe passage ,, others are shouting religious slogans.

Another video shot on July 16th is kneeling to the palace and its relatives in the middle of a rotating intersection. One of the armed men speaks to a family member, as his anger increases, his voice becomes more threatening. Then the shooting begins and the palace and others collapse.

Drze lived in Oklahoma, a member of the religious minority, but said that he returned to the family house in Sweida, Draze-Majority, to deal with his relatives.

A US -based relative, who feared with retaliation against his family in Syria, said, “His father developed and Hosam had to return to Oklahoma within a month. We are experiencing complete disbelief and shock.” “We have never thought that something like this could happen to us.”

Palaya studied finance and accounting at Damascus University before moving to the United States in 2014, where he won the MBA at the University of Christian. Later, he worked as an operation manager at a senior home care company and became a US citizen. He wasn’t married.

While fighting between Bedouin Clansmen and Draze militias, the new government of Syria and the armed clashes entering Israel, this month, was an estimated estimated in the spasm of the sectarian violence that sweeps Sweida this month.

Government forces had to break any fight between the Bedouin and the Draze, the residents and the neighbors of Sarayaya. According to a war monitor, which is a Syrian Human Rights Observatory, they left behind the executions of looting, burning houses and more than 230 civilians.

This week, Senator James Lankford (R-okla.) With the death of Saraya, he said that he was “an Oklahoman … tragically executed with other members of his family in Syria”.

Relatives in the United States said that they had interviewed by the FBI. The Syrian government has not yet reached the family, but said it would hold all government forces responsible for violations.

The new Islamist government has been threatening to ensure the disintegration of a country struggling to continue its 14 -year civil war, which has long been the third round of Syria since its overthrowing President Bashar al -Assad for a long time.

In the palace in Sweida, the symptoms of violence are everywhere – Pocknerged walls by mirrors cracked with shrapnel and family pictures and bullet holes from the grenade. In the midst of destruction, 41 -year -old Dima Sarayaya, one of his relatives, described him as a living nightmare that left a widow.

Most of the family was asleep when the armed men surrounded the house around 6 in the morning and hit the door before entering the house.

Men, who were awakened by the turmoil, told women and children to stay inside while going out to stop the armed.

Dima said that one of the fighters who described him as Abu Jaafar was part of the government’s general security device, and said they should come with him.

When men refused to go, fighters responded with a bullet spray, a grenade and two RPG upstairs. They decided to surrender, and as the palace and others opened, Dima and others went out, crying, crying and begging men left. One of the fighters pointed his rifle to Dima’s chest and told him to go in before he hit him.

Later Dima, after the armed men finished searching for the house, their leaders assured him, “Don’t worry. We will not harm them. They will return in two hours – or morning – they will return. I promise. I will be safe.”

“He had already killed them until then, Dim Dima said.

A member of Syria’s Civil Defense Studies is in Damascus on 16 July 2025 at Israel’s headquarters of the Syrian Ministry of Defense. (Ali Hac Suleyman / Getty Images)

On July 15, 2025, predominantly during the clashes in Drze Sweida, smoke wavy

After the armed men left, the others soon followed. Every time the new group arrived, they accused the family of hiding arms and called the house. Every time they were looted: a warrior asked the gold necklace around Dima’s neck and the jewel from other women. Another asked for the keys of one of the cars on the lower floor. Again, another threatened to rape Dima in anger.

When the last warrior group arrived, it was 2:30 in the afternoon. Dima said that they would run everyone in the house, but then one of the fighters said, “Leave them. There are beautiful women among them”.

They also demanded jewelry or car keys, but he said there was nothing to do. When the warriors went out to continue to fall, Dima and 14 other family members ran to the house of a neighbor and locked the door, remained silent and hoped that they would not be noticed.

Dima, “We did not dare to look for anyone. We were very horrified,” he said.

That night, the videos of the murders – when many of them were tortured by the armed and executed with Drze, they appeared on social media – the palace called the signs of their loved ones. Until the next morning, someone came to the door and told them to gather their relatives’ bodies.

This task fell to Mutassem Jbaai, another relative.

“Every body had more than 50 bullet holes. There was blood everywhere. It was like clothes,” he said.

Members of the Drze community of Syria participate in a funeral in May for members killed in the last sect conflict in the village of Salkhad in South Suwaya Governorate in Syria.

(Through Getty Images Shadi Al-Dubaisi / AFP)

On Thursday, the US State Department said that he had directly discussed with the Syrian government on the murder of Suraya and that he called for “immediately investigation”, according to his department spokesman Tommy Pigott.

“Hosam and his family deserve justice and those responsible for this brutality should be held responsible, Pig said Pigott.

Nevertheless, among the palace family, very few believe that the Syrian government will do everything to bring justice. They point to the previous seizures of sectarian blood shedding that had gone from the charm.

US -based relative, “We can’t live like this. When Assad fell, we had a little hope and we gave them a chance,” he said. “But as he said, ‘Once upon a time a terrorist, always a terrorist.’ “