Massacre in Syria

Government accuses “unorganized masses”

Fighters allied with the Syrian transitional government in the coastal province of Latakia

(Bild: AFP/OMAR HAJ KADOUR)

According to estimates by activists, more than 1,000 people have been killed in heavy fighting in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia in recent days, around 750 of them civilians. The new leadership in Damascus admitted on Sunday that there had been isolated violations in the suppression of a "burgeoning uprising". However, "uncontrolled masses of villagers and fighters" who "wanted to support the government troops" were responsible for this.

The Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa promised that all those who had committed crimes would be severely punished. At the same time, the former leader of the Islamist rebel alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) called on the population to show national unity in the face of the conflict between his security forces and Alawite fighters. The current development is within the framework of "expected challenges", Sharaa emphasized in a video distributed by Arab media on Sunday. "We must preserve national unity and internal peace," the interim president demanded, expressing his conviction: "We can live together."

President Ahmed al-Sharaa

(Bild: Mosa‘ab Elshamy)

These were the most serious acts of violence in years, said the head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdulrahman, on Saturday. Among the dead were women and children from the Alawite minority, to which the ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad also belongs. 

Fighters allied with the Syrian transitional government in the coastal province of Latakia

(Bild: AFP/OMAR HAJ KADOUR)

The bloodshed began on Thursday. According to the new rulers, armed supporters of the ousted Assad government attacked security forces near the coastal town of Jableh in the province of Latakia. The attacks appeared to be coordinated, wrote the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington. On Friday, the Islamist transitional government therefore deployed larger contingents of troops to the region. The government troops deployed artillery, tanks and rocket launchers, it said.

Survivor: "It was complete horror"
Survivors in the worst-affected areas described unbelievable horrors after the offensive by government troops and their allies. Fighters shot indiscriminately at civilians and laughed. Homes of the dead were looted and then set on fire. "It was complete horror. They spared no one," recalled a resident of the coastal town of Baniyas in an interview with the British broadcaster Sky News. Dozens of Alawites sought refuge at the Russian army base Hmeimim (see post above). 

Great fear among the Alawite minority
Fear and terror are particularly widespread among the Alawites, said one resident. "There are many attacks and killings based on religious affiliation. There are also thefts," he said. Women and children were among the victims, reported the Human Rights Observatory. It spoke of massacres in 29 towns in the governorates of Latakia, Tartus, Hama and Homs and accused fighters of the Islamist transitional government of war crimes.

Protests in Damascus: The events on the west coast of the country have not left the Syrian capital cold either. They fear for the unity of the country.

(Bild: APA/AFP)

Supporters of the ousted Assad are trying to use these murders to mobilize minority groups, according to an ISW report. Among the Alawites in particular, there is a growing feeling that the interim government of the new Islamist rulers is oppressing and marginalizing them. The Assad regime had been secular. For interim President Sharaa, the clashes are the first major test.

Syria expert Karam Shaar wrote on X (see post above) that the government had reversed much of the progress made in recent months as a result of the violence against the Alawites. Demands by the transitional government to the EU and the USA, for example, to lift sanctions immediately are therefore less credible, Shaar wrote. The EU's External Action Service (EEAS), on the other hand, announced that "pro-Assad elements" had reportedly carried out attacks on transitional government forces in Syrian coastal areas. The statement was vehemently criticized on the internet. Dutch MEP Sander Smit from the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP) described it as a "misleading statement". The EU also called for the civilian population to be protected at all costs.

Israel criticizes EU's legitimization of Islamists
On Sunday, the German Foreign Ministry appealed to the transitional government in Damascus to prevent further attacks. "Reports of the murder of civilians and prisoners are shocking. The transitional government has a responsibility to prevent further attacks, investigate the incidents and bring those responsible to justice," explained a spokeswoman for the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. The spokesperson went on to say that "all sides are urgently calling for an end to the violence". 

In view of the bloody events, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called on Western states not to legitimize the Islamist transitional government in Damascus. Interim President Sharaa and his men "were jihadists and have remained so, even if they are now wearing suits", Saar told the German newspaper "Bild" (Sunday). He criticized the fact that European representatives had "flocked" to Sharaa to shake his hand.