SYRIA: Fightings in a predominantly Alawite region: a priest in Aleppo testifies
Clashes between interim govt security forces and Alawite Bashar al-Assad loyalists: over 1000 people killed, most of them civilians
By Willy Fautré, director of Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (10.03.2025) – Almost 750 civilians were killed, mostly in close-range shootings in fightings opposing security forces of the interim government and Bashar al-Assad loyalists in the last few days.
In addition, 125 government security forces and close to 150 militants with armed groups affiliated with al-Assad were also killed.
Local residents have described scenes of looting and mass killings, including of children.
In Hai Al Kusour, a predominantly Alawite neighbourhood in the coastal city of Banias, residents say the streets are filled with scattered bodies, piled up and covered in blood. Men of different ages were shot dead there, witnesses said.
Residents of Baniyas, one of the towns worst hit by the violence, said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them.
Ali Sheha, a resident of Baniyas who fled with his family and neighbors hours after the violence broke out Friday, said at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues in one Alawite neighborhood of the city were killed, some of them in their shops, or in their homes.
Hundreds of people have reportedly fled their homes in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – strongholds of Assad support.
Electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the western coastal city of Latakia.
The Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam and makes up around 10% of Syria’s population, which is majority Sunni Muslim. Assad belongs to the sect.
Who are the Alawites?
Alawites are an Arab ethnoreligious group living primarily in Syria (between 2 and 3 million) but also in Turkey (mainly Hatay Province) and northern Lebanon.
It is a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia in the 9th century. The Quran is only one of their holy books. Their interpretation has very little in common with the Shia Muslim interpretation.The sect does not prohibit the consumption of alcohol for its adherents. Alawite theology is based on the belief in reincarnation.
The testimony and the analysis of a Catholic priest
“I’m writing to you after almost a month to let you know what we’re experiencing in Syria at the moment. In fact, since 6th March the situation has seriously worsened, and today the atmosphere in the country is again one of desperation.
In the last few days, tension has increased in various areas, both in the south in the city of Suwaida, and in Jaramana, a suburb of Damascus, both with a Druze majority, but also in the coastal cities with an Alawite majority, especially in Jable. Several acts of violence have been recorded, until two days ago when an armed ‘resistance’ broke out against the official forces, rejected by a large part of the population, for alleged acts of violence and revenge against civilians from the minorities.
On the other hand, there is talk of a real military action organised by supporters of the old regime, supported by regional forces that would have an interest in creating and maintaining a state of chaos in Syria: On the one hand, Israel is advancing into Syrian territory and taking it over, trying to present itself as the defender of the Druze against government forces, considered ‘terrorist militias’; on the other hand, Iran seems unwilling to accept the loss of the power it had in Syria at the time of Assad; without forgetting the role of Russia, which remains ambiguous.
Once again the Syrians are on the brink of a civil war, so we are really worried. Some voices accuse the international community of not fully assuming its responsibilities towards the Middle East in general and Syria in particular, which remains a land where the great powers clash, each one trying to secure a slice of the pie.
Other rumours accuse the new Al-Sharaa government that, despite its fine promises, has so far not taken serious action to guarantee public and fair trials for war criminals, a fact that has given free reign to those who want to take justice into their own hands and allowed those who want to organise themselves to ‘liberate’ Syria again to act undisturbed!
Another fault of the new president is that he is maintaining the status quo of his government, formed immediately after the fall of the old regime and which remains in office beyond the fixed term of three months. This government brings together people with little experience in politics, all belonging to the former Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and with a strongly religious political ideology.
Despite countless rumours, both from abroad and within the country, that a government representing all components of Syrian society is essential to maintain stability in Syria, no concrete actions have been taken in this direction so far.
They wanted to please the observers with a half day of ‘national dialogue’, in which the fate of the country should have been decided, a conference that drew up a final document that remains for now ink on paper.
Everyone was waiting for 1st March, the date on which a new transitional government should have been formed, a missed objective that has left many disappointed, while the Syrian people are waiting for a clear word from their authorities, a word that explains what they have in mind. Unfortunately, the rulers continue to treat the people as a ‘flock’ and not as a true partner. This silence, barely endured, is broken only by the weapons that threaten to destroy what remains of our hope.
Here the people are tired and we wouldn’t know what to say or how to instil courage to face what is to come… So I ask you to pray for us, we need it so much, let us raise our prayers to the good Lord who knows how to work miracles.”
* Father Karakach, Priest of the church of St Francis of Assisi in Aleppo (Anglican.ink)
READ MORE
Joint Statement by the Patriarchs in Syria
Further reading about FORB in Syria on HRWF website
Photo: Parish priest at Aleppo’s Church of St Francis of Assisi (Credits: Custodia Terra Sancta)