Syrian Druze spiritual leader Hikmat al-Hijri on 16 July rejected a ceasefire that had been announced earlier in the day between Druze militias in Suwayda province and forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. In a written statement, al-Hijri said there was “no agreement, negotiation or authorization” with Damascus and called on fighters to continue what he described as legitimate self-defence until “every inch” of the southern province is “completely liberated.” The repudiated truce, publicised by the Syrian Interior Ministry and Druze cleric Sheikh Yousef Jarbou, had called for an immediate halt to hostilities, withdrawal of army units to barracks and the deployment of state police checkpoints, according to local accounts. It also envisaged a joint monitoring committee and the reactivation of government institutions in the Druze-majority region. Al-Hijri’s defiance deepens divisions within the Druze leadership and threatens to prolong unrest in Suwayda, an area that had largely stayed on the sidelines of Syria’s civil war but has seen intermittent clashes over security and governance. The breakdown of the ceasefire complicates Damascus’s efforts to reassert full control over the province and raises the risk of renewed violence in a region already strained by economic hardship and sporadic insurgent activity.