On 25 February 2026, the General Security forces affiliated with the interim authority in Syria arrested Mr. Youssef Al-Shoufi (65 years old) and his son, Amr Al-Shoufi, both originally from the town of Salkhad in Suwayda Governorate and belonging to the Druze community, while they were traveling to the city of Damascus for Mr. Youssef Al-Shoufi to undergo a surgical procedure.
According to local sources and activists, the two were detained at the Al-Matouneh checkpoint north of Suwayda Governorate, without the presentation of a judicial warrant or the provision of any legal grounds for their detention. The sources reported that Mr. Youssef Al-Shoufi suffers from partial blindness (visually impaired) and had departed on Wednesday morning to one of Damascus’s hospitals pursuant to a prior medical appointment to undergo an eye injection procedure, accompanied by his son, Amr Al-Shoufi, who is estimated to be in his thirties.
The sources further confirmed that checkpoint personnel detained them without informing them of the nature of the charges or the authority to which they were being transferred, giving rise to serious concerns regarding their physical safety, particularly in light of Mr. Youssef Al-Shoufi’s critical health condition and his urgent need for medical care.
In a related context, corroborated information indicates that the same checkpoint had, on Tuesday, 24 February 2026, detained the young men Waddah Thaer Al-Taroudi and Majd Firas Azzam, both members of the Druze community, while they were returning from the city of Jaramana to Suwayda Governorate, without any announcement of formal charges or the issuance of judicial orders against them.
These incidents occur within a recurring pattern of arrests affecting a number of residents of Suwayda Governorate in recent periods, whether at security checkpoints or within government institutions in Damascus, without disclosure of clear legal justifications or affording detainees the guarantees of a fair trial. Such practices constitute a violation of the fundamental standards enshrined in national laws and relevant international human rights instruments concerning the protection of personal liberty and the guarantee of the right to treatment and health care.
