Forest Reserve in Suweida Left Unprotected

Al-Dhamna Reserve, once one of the rarest forested areas in southern Syria, has suffered systematic destruction of its vegetation cover for over a decade due to excessive logging, lack of management, the impact of the conflict, and the collapse of state services. 

With the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, the reserve was left vulnerable to waves of individual and collective seizures, with some considering the land as public domain, open for appropriation and conversion into private property. Amid this vacuum, locals have made belated attempts to stop the encroachments, while the relationship with public property is being redefined outside any legal or institutional framework.

Suweida’s lungs choked

Al-Dhamna was more than just a forest; it was a rare natural refuge on the western slopes of Jabal Al-Arab, home to diverse plant species and centuries-old trees. Before 2011, the reserve was estimated to contain around 100,000 forest trees, including oak, Atlas pistachio, hawthorn, wild almond, and aromatic and medicinal plants. It also sheltered various bird and wild animal species. A 2012 academic study described it as a balanced ecosystem complementing the region’s semi-arid climate, playing a vital role in soil stabilisation, moisture regulation, and protection of surrounding agricultural lands.

Part of the reserve housed a military site belonging to Regiment 44 of the regime forces, adding pressure to the ecosystem due to pollution, neglect, and logging to sell timber for the benefit of certain officers. The environmental pollution caused by the military base inside the forest stemmed from several operational practices: the use of heavy vehicles and machinery, the accommodation and feeding of soldiers, and the unmanaged disposal of waste – including engine oils, human waste, and food scraps – which were often dumped directly into the forest without any treatment. Neglect, on the other hand, was institutional. There were no directives instructing military personnel to preserve the forest or its biodiversity. In such an environment, the forest was treated as expendable – a dumping ground for waste, a place to light fires freely, a source of firewood through unchecked logging, and even a hunting ground where soldiers used military ammunition against wildlife.

From 2012 onward, illegal logging intensified yearly, with neither local communities nor official bodies being able or willing to prevent it. By 2020, repeated fires had devastated large swaths of the remaining forest, the largest in 2020 destroying hundreds of trees.

After the Assad regime’s fall on December 8, 2024, soldiers withdrew from the Regiment 44 site, prompting loggers and armed factions to complete the forest’s destruction. Ironically, despite the damage the regiment caused, it had served as the last line of defence against logging. Its withdrawal opened the forest to what some environmental activists dubbed “the final raid,” during which the remaining trees were felled in a matter of days. Stone mounds began appearing as individuals attempted to reclaim plots, marking the first signs of illegal appropriation. Within two months, Al-Dhamna Reserve had turned into a barren land with visible stone boundaries marking emerging “private” properties without legal titles or official registration, based solely on physical possession.

Gradual takeover

Since early 2025, gradual encroachment on the reserve’s land has emerged, involving individuals from Qanawat, Suweida, Al-Muqaws, and Masad. Some delineated plots with stone mounds; others ploughed land in preparation for planting. One man from Qanawat seized about three dunums, marked them with stones, and ploughed them. He told The Syria Report that he planned to plant cherry trees and considered the land his own.

Some residents view the reserve as communal land, confusing the absence of public authority with the notion of “public ownership,” and see cultivating the land as legitimate since it is no longer protected and no one is stopping them.

Forest land designation protected from possession

Al-Dhamna was designated a forest nature reserve by Decision No. 35 of the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs on June 10, 2001. Located south of Qanawat, it covers 6,531 dunums, spanning areas in Qanawat, Mafaala, Masad, and Suweida city. This classification gives it a special legal status as part of the “state forest” land, i.e., state-owned lands with forest cover exceeding 20 percent.

Legally, the reserve remains public property and cannot be owned or disposed of, even after long periods of possession. Lawyer Bashir Ayyoub, a municipal council member in Qanawat, told The Syria Report that what is happening amounts to “property usurpation,” and Syrian law does not permit acquisition of public land ownership through time-based possession.

According to Forest Law No. 39 of 2023, which replaced Law No. 6 of 2018, all forms of ownership, leasing, or establishment of property rights on state forest land are prohibited, and ownership cannot be transferred even to administrative units. This directly applies to Al-Dhamna Reserve. All encroachments or seizures within the reserve are considered crimes punishable by law. No property rights can be acquired there through time or long-term possession. 

Law 39 also states that any land development, farming, or construction within or near forest areas – defined as a 200-metre buffer that may extend up to a kilometre – constitutes a direct violation. No person or entity may register or deal in these lands, regardless of possession duration or usage type.

Administrative void

The law clearly prohibits all forms of ownership, development, or dealings in state forest land, criminalises violations, and grants executive authority to the Ministry of Agriculture and its regional departments. Despite Al-Dhamna’s classification as public forest land, these legal provisions have not been enforced since the regime’s collapse in Suweida.

Currently, there is no functioning forest protection unit affiliated with the Ministry of Agriculture in Suweida, nor any oversight body capable of field inspections, issuing reports, or enforcing penalties. The municipal council in Qanawat lacks legal authority in this area, and the local police have limited capacity, often requesting community support to carry out actions. Meanwhile, the judiciary is nearly paralysed, suffering from a lack of clear legal authority post-Assad.

This vacuum allows encroachments to continue unchecked and weakens the local community’s ability to protect public property. Even if local will exists to stop the seizures, there is no body capable of documenting violations, enforcing removals, or referring offenders to court. The administrative void is not just a lack of enforcers, but also of leadership: no entity in Suweida currently has legal authority to demarcate the reserve, assess damages, or offer compensation, making all actions on Al-Dhamna’s land a matter of brute force rather than law.

Limited attempts at protection

After weeks of ongoing encroachments on Al-Dhamna Reserve, the Qanawat municipal council, supported by local figures and religious leaders, moved to halt the illegal seizures. On the evening of Thursday, April 17, loudspeaker announcements called on residents to head to the reserve the following morning to dismantle the stone mounds marking seized land. The call received a limited response, but dozens of residents did participate in the campaign.

A local police patrol accompanied residents during the removal process, with no clashes reported, suggesting many encroachments occurred unchallenged or their perpetrators chose to withdraw temporarily. During the work, residents noticed larger-scale encroachments involving machinery to build embankments and demarcate land in an almost formal manner, requiring state intervention for land surveys and removal.

Despite its symbolic importance, the effort was limited in scope, covering only a small part of the reserve. The initiative was a delayed response to a crisis that had been ongoing for months and lacked a clear plan for monitoring, reporting, or reclaiming seized land. No legal actions were taken against the violators, nor were mechanisms put in place to prevent further violations.

The municipal council is trying to compensate for this weakness through ongoing communication with the Ministry of Agriculture, but without tangible results so far. The chances of reclaiming seized land diminish as time passes and facts on the ground harden. The newly forming police leadership has requested community support, while the Ministry of Agriculture has pledged to issue legal citations in coordination with the judiciary. Yet, no case of accountability or actual land reclamation has been recorded to date.

The loss of Al-Dhamna Reserve is not only measured by the uprooted trees or cleared areas, but also by the erosion of the concept of public property in the minds of part of the local community, amid state absence and the disintegration of its legal and executive institutions. What happened in Al-Dhamna is not merely an attack on protected land, but a recurring example of a new reality in which ownership boundaries are drawn by de facto power, not the law. In the absence of control or accountability, Al-Dhamna remains a symbol of dual loss: the loss of the forest, and the loss of the framework meant to protect it.