Violence is flaring across parts of western Syria, as forces of the self-styled Syrian transitional government have clashed with Alawite militias and proceeded to target civilian Alawite communities who had been aligned with ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The body count is rising and cannot be independently verified at this time. The United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has assessed more than 1,000 people have been killed in the fighting this week, including 125 fighters aligned with the new Syrian government, 148 fighters aligned with Assad, and some 745 civilians.
A Sunni Islamist Government
The new self-styled Syrian transitional government formed from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a Sunni Islamist faction that led the final push to drive Assad from power last fall. HTS formed from Jabhat al Nusra, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. To this day, HTS remains designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization.
The U.S. government, across multiple presidential administrations, had opposed Assad and supported his downfall through both overt and covert means.
U.S. efforts to oust Assad had centered around arming and equipping rebel groups like the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF). But these efforts were fraught with concerns about accountability. One of the U.S. government’s programs to arm and train Syrian rebels, known as Timber Sycamore, saw U.S.-trained rebels fighting alongside or turning U.S.-supplied weapons over to more radical elements like al Nusra. U.S. weapons also fell into the hands of the Islamic State, fueling that group’s rise to power.
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While the U.S. had hoped more moderate factions would bring about Assad’s downfall, it was this al Nusra successor group, HTS, that led the final charge. Despite seeing HTS as a terrorist group, the U.S. government under President Joe Biden took an aloof approach to their ascendancy in post-Assad Syria, even dropping a $10 million bounty against the group’s leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa.
In the months since Assad’s fall, Al-Sharaa has positioned himself as Syria’s new president, and has placed many of his HTS allies in top government posts. This HTS-formed transitional government has organized some talks on the formation of a new constitution and reforms for post-Assad Syria, but demanded groups like the SDF disarm in order to gain a seat at the table. The U.S.-backed SDF rejected these demands, and denounced the talks as illegitimate and not representative of all of Syrian society.
Alawites On Alert After Assad Ouster
Much of the violence this week has played out in the Latakia region, along Syria’s Mediterranean coastline. Latakia has been a historic stronghold of the Alawite ethnoreligious sect, an early Arab offshoot of Shia Islam.
The Alawites have been an ethnic and religious minority in Syria, but had enjoyed the protection afforded to them by the Assad family, themselves of Alawite descent. Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad had maintained power and largely secured the Alawite position since 1971.
Throughout the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, the fighting has often proceeded along sectarian lines.
With Alawites representing about 13 percent of Syria’s population, they often attached their hopes for safety to the embattled Assad.
After Assad’s fall from power, a video began to circulate, purporting to show an Alawite shrine in Aleppo being put to the torch. Other reports have emerged, indicating HTS-aligned forces have begun to target Alawites for violent reprisals.
Several Alawite militias have formed in the wake of Assad’s fall from power, including groups known as the Syrian Popular Resistance, the Coastal Shields Brigade, and the Guardians of Truth Battalions. These groups have taken it upon themselves to resist the HTS-led government.
Violence Sweeps Syria’s Northwest
The violence this week appears to have begun as the HTS transition government’s forces have pushed into Latakia and Tartus in recent weeks.
The Alawite Islamic Council blamed the violence on the Syrian transition government sending its forces into Syria’s heavily Alawite northwest coastal regions. Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Mustafa Knefati, a leader of the transition government forces, claimed pro-Assadist elements ambushed his forces near the villages of Beit Ana and Dalia in the Latakia governorate.
Following the ambush attacks, the HTS government sent additional troops into the region and began imposing curfews.
Amid this expanded crack down reports have emerged that the forces aligned with the HTS-led transition government have begun to turn their guns on unarmed Alawites. Footage shared online purports to show the killings.
As reports of mass reprisal killings of Alawites have spread, hundreds of civilians have apparently fled to the Russian-controlled Khmeimim airbase, seeking sanctuary.
Geir Pedersen, the United Nations special envoy for Syria reacted with alarm to the recent outburst of violence.
“While the situation remains fluid and we are still determining the precise facts, there is clearly an immediate need for restraint from all parties, and full respect for the protection of civilians in accordance with international law,” Pedersen said. “All parties should refrain from actions that could further inflame tensions, escalate conflict, exacerbate the suffering of affected communities, destabilize Syria, and jeopardize a credible and inclusive political transition.”
Sharaa, meanwhile, has vowed his government’s forces will “continue to pursue the remnants of the fallen regime.”
Even amid the reports of civilian killings by HTS-aligned factions, Sharaa insisted those his forces are seeking out would receive fair trials, and his government would deal with those who harmed civilians.
Sharaa also vowed his government will seek to restrict access to weapons throughout Syria, requiring the war torn country to trust in the good will of its new de facto leadership.
This article was originally published by FreeBase News and is reprinted with permission.
