A prisoner exchange deal between the Syrian regime and the Druze in Syria was launched today, in light of the violent events of July last year.

The information director of the Sweida province in southern Syria announced last night that the authorities in Damascus will release detainees “from the buildings of the Sweida province” that they have been holding since those events, and at the same time, detainees held by what the announcement called the “National Guard” – the militia affiliated with the spiritual leader of the Druze in Sweida, Hikmat al-Hajri – will be released.

According to the announcement, the deal is being carried out under the supervision of the Red Cross. It will begin at the governor’s building in the settlement of a-Thura a-Sughra in the northern rural area of ​​the Sweida province. After that, the released ones will be transferred into the province through the checkpoint of the village of al-Matuna. The statement said that the detainees held by the government were "in constant contact with their families," and that lists of names of all those detained by the regime were published in advance "transparently."