Military Judiciary Rejects Lawsuit Reclaiming House Seized by Regime Forces in Suweida

The military judiciary and the public prosecution in Suweida have rejected a lawsuit filed by the Farhat family against the leader of the pro-regime National Defence Force militia, seeking to reclaim their family home, which has been seized for the past 10 years, and to obtain compensation for the damages caused.

The house, located on the outskirts of the village of Waqm in western rural Suweida, is owned by Ziad Farhat. He lived there with his family until 2014 when Ziad was kidnapped by an armed gang from the Lajat area in rural Daraa. The family chose to leave the house and temporarily relocate from the village after suspecting that two villagers were involved in the kidnapping. A few days after the abduction, the gang negotiated with the family to pay a ransom for Ziad’s release. The family managed to gather around SYP 600,000 (approximately USD 4,000 at the exchange rate at the time) and handed the money over to the gang’s intermediary. However, the intermediary claimed that the kidnappers intercepted him and stole his car along with the money. The family decided to move to Ashrafiyet Sahnaya in Rural Damascus and filed a lawsuit against the two suspected of involvement in Ziad’s kidnapping. Since then, contact with the kidnappers has been lost, and no information about Ziad’s fate has been available to this day.

The house covers an area of 300 square metres and is surrounded by agricultural land of about one hectare, enclosed by a wall. The house building is licensed, and the land is located in a zoned area, with both having a title deed in the name of Ziad Farhat.

Three months after the family left their home, a military group affiliated with the National Defence Force (NDF) militia stormed the house, bringing along the village mayor as a witness to the event in front of the villagers. The militia seized the house without notifying the owners or seeking their permission and turned it into a military base, citing its strategic location as justification.

In early 2015, one of Ziad Farhat’s sons visited the leader of the NDF at his headquarters in the tourist hotel in Suweida city to object to the seizure of the house and request its return. The leader stated that the house’s location was ideal for protecting the area from militants and refused to vacate it until “the security situation in the area stabilises,” as he allegedly described it. The leader verbally promised to compensate for any damages to the house resulting from the military presence.

In 2017, the family learned that the NDF had handed over the house to a unit of the regime’s 15th Division, which operates in the western rural area of Suweida. Despite the relative stability that returned to the region following the reconciliation agreement with armed opposition factions in Daraa and Quneitra in mid-2018, the 15th Division did not vacate the house.

The family avoided visiting the village during this period, until mid-2024, when one of Ziad’s sons inspected the house and found it in a disastrous state, with members of the 15th Division still occupying it. The military personnel prevented the homeowner’s son from taking photos or documenting the damage. However, according to a correspondent for The Syria Report, the house had been looted, leaving no windows, doors, floor tiles, or bathroom ceramics. Even the internal electrical wiring had been removed, and all the furniture, along with the exterior marble, had disappeared. Most painfully, 150 mature olive trees surrounding the house had been uprooted. The officer in charge, a colonel, claimed that they had received the house in this condition from the NDF.

The correspondent said that someone had written in large letters on the house’s wall, “Guardians of the Homeland, peace be upon you,” a phrase clearly visible from afar. This phrase is taken from the Syrian national anthem and is used to describe the Syrian army and its supposed role in protecting the “homeland,” which means in Arabic both homes and the nation itself.

The family approached the military judiciary in Suweida to file a lawsuit against the leader of the NDF, holding him responsible for the house’s seizure and seeking to reclaim the property and compensation for the losses incurred. However, the military judge refused to register the case and advised the family’s lawyer to mediate between them and the NDF leader to resolve the matter amicably. The leader, however, claimed that the NDF was not responsible for the damages, as the house had been handed over to the army and the Ministry of Defence.

With this mediation attempt failing, the family renewed their request to file a lawsuit with the military judge. The judge stipulated that the family must accept the house in its current state before he would register the case. The family refused to take possession of the house as it was, arguing that the extensive damage made accepting it equivalent to waiving their right to compensation, according to the correspondent.

Afterward, the family went to the Palace of Justice in Suweida, making a new attempt to file a lawsuit against the leader of the NDF and to demand an investigation into the extortion of their home. However, the public prosecutor refused to sign off on accepting the lawsuit. It turned out that the public prosecutor is the brother of the NDF leader. The prosecutor claimed he would personally follow up on the case and promised to send a lawyer to the house to verify the complaint.

A few days later, the family received threats from the NDF, warning that family members would be arrested. As a result of similar pressure, the family’s lawyer felt compelled to withdraw from the case.

Faced with these complications and threats, the family became fearful of pursuing their rights through legal channels, knowing that their opponent is the leader of an armed militia and his brother is the public prosecutor. Consequently, the family recently turned to local elders and leaders in Suweida, seeking their mediation with the NDF to reach a solution that would allow them to reclaim their home and receive compensation for the damages incurred.