According to some estimates, as many as 1,500 mainly Shia Muslim Alawites have so far been killed in Syria’s Latakia and Tartus provinces by gunmen loyal to the Sunni Islamist government of interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. He came to power earlier this year following the overthrow by Islamist rebels of Bashar al-Assad, who is Alawite, a sect which makes up an estimated 10% of the country’s population.
Harrowing reports of summary executions are emerging from Syria’s coastal region. Those killed are apparently being asked what religion they are. If they answer wrongly, they are shot. The alleged trigger for these killings was a deadly ambush on a security patrol by a group loyal to the old Assad regime.
Christians living in fear
Some Christians have also been killed, according to social media, albeit numbers are disputed. Open Doors, the Christian charity, said recent violence has left Syrian Christians fearful. “All Christians I know now want to leave the country,” a source in western Syria told the charity.
Caution required with Sharaa
Assad was a tyrant, in power for 24 years including 14 years of civil war started by his brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Few will miss him. But when Sharaa took power, many received the news cautiously. Despite his promise of a “new history” for Syria where everyone is accepted regardless of ethnicity and beliefs, Sharaa’s past is well-documented as a rebel commander and as al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate. This must remain a cause for concern.
Lammy is right to dial down the heat
Right now a power vacuum is giving rise to what some observers have described as an anti-Alawite pogrom. Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, said “radical Islamist terrorists” were carrying out “massacres” against minorities, calling on the new Syrian government to regain control. Sharaa in turn said he would bring the perpetrators to justice.
In pleasant tonal contrast to his US counterpart, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke out against the killings but stopped short of saying who was behind the violence. Given current tensions, against a backdrop of a complex and often bloody history, Lammy’s approach seems preferable: seeking to dial down the heat as a new government attempts to establish itself in Damascus.
Time will tell
Sharaa last week signed a constitutional declaration of a five-year transitional period during which he intends to stage free and fair elections as part of his long-term plan for a stable, lawful Syria. The people of Syria – among them Christians, Druze, Jews and Muslims – will hope Sharaa makes good on his pledges. God knows they have suffered enough.
