A/HRC/40/70 Suwayda’ Governorate 36. Aside from armed groups and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the Commission documented hostilities between July and December against remaining ISIL redoubts in Suwayda’ and Dayr al-Zawr Governorates. Though their presence countrywide has diminished considerably, the ability of ISIL terrorists to carry out attacks against civilians continued in both of these areas during the period under review. 37. Immediately upon recapturing the southern Damascus suburbs in late May 2018, government forces entered the area to evacuate ISIL fighters (A/HRC/39/65, paras. 43–44). Scores of ISIL terrorists evacuated from Hajar al-Aswad and the neighbouring Yarmouk basin reportedly later retreated to their stronghold in al-Badia desert near Suwayda’ Governorate. 38. In the early dawn hours of 25 July, ISIL terrorists launched a coordinated attack against several villages in Suwayda’, the ancestral homeland of the Druze minority sect. Disguised in traditional Druze clothing, including the shashiyah, a white headdress, and reinforced by snipers positioned on roofs of houses, ISIL fighters went door to door shooting civilian women, men and children, some of them still asleep. The militants spared one survivor per family, often a woman, to tell the story. While visiting al-Shabki village in the aftermath of an assault where at least 68 persons were killed, one man recalled entering a home to see a slain mother lying alongside the bodies of her three children. 39. Upon expending their ammunition, between approximately 4.30 and 5 a.m., numerous ISIL militants travelled to Suwayda’ city and detonated their vests in devastating suicide attacks, including near a crowded vegetable market, killing at least 200 civilians and injuring at least 170 others. Two of the would-be bombers were apprehended by Druze civilians near city hospitals before they could detonate their vests, and they were later publicly hanged by civilians in the provincial capital. 40. During the attacks, ISIL fighters abducted at least 32 Druze women and children, along with a 19-year-old Druze male student whom they later decapitated after the Government refused to comply with prisoner swapping requests, including demands that it release senior members of the terrorist group. Individuals the Commission spoke with described how abducted women and children were forced to walk for 12 hours in the searing heat of the desert before being detained in a makeshift camp. Survivors recalled how the hostages had been transferred numerous times during their captivity, including to a cave, and ultimately were taken to Tadmur (Palmyra) District (Homs), some 470 kilometres north-east of their original point of capture. 41. While detained, women and girls were required to wear headscarves, and boys above the age of 10 years were separated from females, including on occasion from their mothers. 14 Hostages endured inhumane conditions while in captivity: some women and children exhibiting signs of trauma were beaten into silence, and one woman perished due to lack of medical assistance. In addition to a 19-year-old male, two other hostages, including a woman whose execution was filmed by ISIL and uploaded online, were murdered when demands for prisoner swaps were not met. Responding to the events, government forces initiated a military offensive in rural Suwayda’ on 6 August. 42. On 20 October, six Druze women and children abducted from al-Shabki village were exchanged for 17 government-held detainees, many with familial ties to ISIL fighters. After having been held hostage for 107 days, the remaining 21 Druze women and children were rescued on 8 November during an operation launched by government forces in Humeima in Tadmur (Palmyra) District, though at least two boys, aged 8 and 13 years, being held hostage were killed in the crossfire. Just over one week later, after successfully clearing the al-Safa plateau in the eastern Badia desert, the offensive by government forces to drive out ISIL terrorists from Suwayda’ officially ended on 19 November. 14 The separation of females from males approaching puberty or thought to be of such an age conforms broadly with the stringent interpretation of Islamic tenets by ISIL. 9