Syria - What's Next? > Evicting Alawites from Damascus - stealing their homes; Sharia gaining strength in Syria

 

There Is, in Syria, a Hideous Effort to Reduce Alawites to Poverty

May 7, 2025 4:00 pm By Hugh Fitzgerald

There is, in Syria, a hideous effort to reduce Alawites to poverty and to enrich, at their expense, the very people who have made them abandon their property:

Held at gunpoint, with minutes to leave:

How Syria evicts Alawites from their homes

by Amina Ismail, Jerusalem Post, May 3, 2025:

For more than 50 years, Assad and his father before him crushed any opposition from Syria’s Sunni Muslims, who make up more than 70% of the population. Alawites took many of the top positions in government and the military and ran big businesses.

They now accuse supporters of Sharaa, who once ran an al Qaeda affiliate, of systematically abusing them as payback….

No other conclusion is possible. Despite that reassuring rhetoric, al-Sharaa has done nothing concrete to help the Alawites. When Alawites by the thousands were being murdered in Latakia, al-Sharaa did not send in troops to protect them. Nor has he done anything since about finding and punishing the Sunni Muslims who murdered the Alawites. In Damascus itself, hundreds, if not thousands of Alawite families have seen their houses seized and they are now out on the street, unless they are lucky enough to have relatives, most likely in Latakia, willing to take them in. Al-Sharaa knows all about the evictions, but as with the murders of Alawites in Latakia, has done nothing to stop them.

Two government officials said thousands of people had been kicked out of homes in Damascus since Assad was toppled by Sharaa’s rebel force, with the majority being Alawites.

The officials said most resided in government housing associated with their jobs in state institutions and, since they were no longer employed, they had lost their right to stay….

Why were these people no longer employed by the state? What was their fault? Were they really part of the Assad government’s terror state? Or was it only the fact of their being Alawites that condemned them to such barbarous treatment by Sunnis determined to take over their property?

As long as the Sunnis in Syria continue to wage war on the minorities — so far they have killed more than a thousand Alawites in Latakia and evicted many thousands of them from their homes in Damascus, and attacked the Druze in Jaramana and Sahnaya, two suburbs of the capital city — those minorities will not put any faith in Ahmed al-Sharaa’s assurances about inclusion and equal treatment. To protect the Druze, Israel has hit Sunni Muslims threatening the Druze suburbs, and even managed to conduct airstrikes all around the perimeter of the presidential palace in Damascus, as a way to warn al-Sharaa to protect the Druze. And since those airstrikes, IDF troops on the ground have moved northward from the Golan, providing enhanced protection to more of the Druze villages.

On April 16, STJ filed a complaint with the Damascus Suburbs Directorate, calling for an end to “sectarian-motivated” property violations and the return of looted properties.

It is doubtful that the Sunni Muslims will be stopped by a complaint from the STJ. Al-Sharaa surely knew what has been going on in Damascus ever since January, when the security services first started their evictions of Alawites.

Assad’s father Hafez al-Assad moved Alawites from coastal areas to urban centers to help cement his powerbase. He set up military installations and housing units for troops and their families around Damascus, where Alawites, who were over-represented in the army, made up a significant portion of the population, according to Fabrice Balanche, a Syria expert and associate professor at the University of Lyon 2 in France.

Balanche estimated that half a million Alawites have moved to coastal areas after being evicted from the capital, Homs, as well as Aleppo and other parts of Syria following Assad’s fall.

That’s a huge number of evictions of Alawites from homes all over Syria, that has received no attention in the Western media. Half a million Alawites, within less than four months, have been evicted from their homes, not just in Damascus, but also in Homs, Aleppo, and other cities, and have now sought safety in the Alawite stronghold of Latakia. The total Alawite population in Syria is between two and three million, so a very large percentage of the Alawites have now lost their homes to Sunnis. Nothing will assuage their despair and fury, nor will they ever trust the assurances of Ahmed al-Sharaa, whom they are sure knew about and did nothing to stop — and some think he may even have encouraged — these evictions.

Syria: Masked men in military uniforms attack store selling alcohol, threaten to kill Christian town’s residents

May 8, 2025 9:00 am By Robert Spencer

Islamic apologists in the West routinely insist that Sharia applies only to Muslims. This is the reality.

Amid threats to kill Christians | Masked men in military uniform attack alcoholic beverages store in Homs countryside

SOHR, May 5, 2025

(thanks to The Religion of Peace):

…In this context, SOHR activists have reported that a group of masked men in military uniform attacked a store selling alcoholic beverages in Rablah town, which is inhabited mostly by Christian citizens, in Al-Qusayr countryside in Homs. The gunmen assaulted a young man who was in the store at the time of the attack, sabotaged the store’s contents and stole money.

Before leaving the area, the gunmen threatened to kill the town’s residents, called residents as “infidels” and insulted the Christian religion and its symbols.

Last night, gunmen stormed Al-Karawan night club in Al-Hejaz area in Damascus city and opened machinegun fire indiscriminately, killing a female dancer and injuring other persons, before they left the night club. The gunmen did not announce their affiliation, while no bodies or authorities claimed responsibility for the attack….

Sounds like Sharia is gaining strength in Syria as fundamentalist Muslims take over.

Syria, What's Next > Syrian textbooks to become more Islamist; From Al-Nusra Sharia Judge to Justice Minister

 

In Syria, an Attempt to Change the Textbooks

Jan 9, 2025 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

The head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) — and now the de facto leader of Syria — is Ahmad Al-Sharaa. He has been making all the right declarations, about his having broken long ago with Al-Qaeda and ISIS, words meant to reassure both Western and Gulf Arab audiences. After all, Syria will need $350 billion to rebuild, and some of that money, Al-Sharaa undoubtedly hopes, will have to come from the West. Al-Sharaa has insisted that in the new Syria, its many minorities — Alawites, non-Alawite Shi’a, Christians, and Druze — will be treated as equals of the majority Sunni Muslims. However, there are here and there disturbing signs that not everyone is prepared to follow his lead. A Christian couple were found decapitated in northern Syria. Christmas trees have been set on fire. Alawites — and not just those known to have been Assad’s supporters — have been attacked by Sunni rebels. The Americans are still trying to decide what to make of Al-Sharaa, and whether to take him at his word. And even if he means what he says, there are many others — including some in HTS —who may not see things his way. So far the Americans are waiting to see what happens next; Washington is not ready to lift sanctions on the Syrian state quite yet.

Now there is alarming news about proposed changes in the Syrian schoolbooks that suggests the Islamists — a deceptive term that is best understood as referring to those Muslims who take Islam very much to heart — have more influence than we were led to expect by Al-Sharaa’s pronouncements. More on those changes that may be made to the books that will mold the minds of young Syrians can be found here: 

Syrian gov’t proposes ‘Islamic path’ changes

to education system

Jerusalem Post, January 4, 2025:

Syria’s education ministry published a list of planned changes to Syria’s school curriculum on Wednesday in a post on Facebook….

The changes include changing the phrases “path of goodness” to “Islamic path” and “those who are damned and have gone astray” to “Jews and Christians.”

What would a Christian schoolboy in Syria make of learning that the only “path of goodness” is the “Islamic path”? Or of reading that he, as a Christian, is “one of those who are damned and have gone astray”? Clearly, those proposing these changes want to put Islam back, front and center, in the national consciousness.

They redefine the word “martyr” from someone who died for a homeland to someone who sacrifices themself “for the sake of God.” The phrase “defending the nation” is set to be replaced with “defending Allah.” The phrase “God’s Sharia” was replaced with “Law of Justice,” and the phrase “human brotherhood” was changed to “faith brotherhood.”…

Additionally, there were several changes to references of the Ottoman Empire. The phrase “Ottoman Administration” will replace “Ottoman Occupation,” and references to the 1916 mass execution of Arab nationalists under the Ottomans were removed.

This is an attempt to remove any resentment, based on history, that may be felt for the rebels’ supporter, Turkey. The Ottomans are no longer to be described in the schoolbooks as having been the “occupiers” of Syria, but more acceptably, as the “administrators” of the country. The execution of Arab nationalists in 1916 by the Turks is no longer to be mentioned at all. Turkey, after all, has been the steadfast ally of HTS and of other Syrian rebels fighting Assad; nothing in Turkey’s past history may be mentioned that would damage that relationship.

We don’t know how many of these proposed changes to Syrian schoolbooks will ultimately be accepted. But the fact that they were made at all, and not rejected outright by Ahmad al-Sharaa, is surely worrisome for those who had hoped that Syria would, under new management, become a democratic and secular polity. These possible changes to the schoolbooks are one more reason for the Trump administration to hold off lifting sanctions on Syria, until the role of Islam in the country has become clear.

Another proposed amendment was to remove references to evolution from the science curriculum.

Many Muslims do not accept that man evolved over time and for them, teaching what they dismiss as “the theory of evolution” is anathema.

Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri said the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain the same until specialized committees are able to review and revise the proposed changes….

Al-Qadri may be able to prevent these worrisome changes that have been proposed from being adopted, but the very fact that they are now being considered should alarm those who thought that Al-Sharaa would manage to keep the Islamists — the truest of true believers — securely at bay. If the proposed changes to the schoolbooks are approved, that will be a sure sign that those Islamists have won.

Mar Boutros Qassis, the archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, said in response to the changes, “There have been changes related to the Assad regime…which are understandable, however, there have also been amendments that [promote] the Islamic ideology of society and education,” according to the WSJ.

Of course the archbishop is alarmed. Like other Christians in Syria, he had been counting on Al-Sharaa’s reassurances about the treatment of minorities. But if the Islamist faction in the new government can succeed in making these changes to the schoolbooks, what other triumphs will they achieve at the expense of Christians?

So, do these changes indicate that Al-Sharaa is pretending to be more civilized than his predecessor, perhaps to buy time to strengthen Syria before attacking Israel? The references to Christians and Jews seem to indicate a long-term project of raising the next generation of Syrians to be as Satanic as Gazans. What do you think?

From Sharia judge to minister: Syria’s new justice minister tied to public executions

Two harrowing videos surfaced on social media in early January, exposing the dark past of Syria’s newly appointed Justice Minister Shadi Al-Wassi. Verified by FRANCE 24’s Observers, the footage documents the public execution of two women in the Idlib region in 2015. At the time, Al-Wassi was serving as a low-ranking Sharia judge and was responsible for overseeing these executions, in which the women were accused of prostitution.

Issued on: 08/01/2025 - 16:29

6 min

The Observers were able to geolocate two videos of executions showing the new Syrian justice minister executing two women in public. © Observers

By:Alijani ErshadFollow|Mellit Derre

The first video shows a woman kneeling, surrounded by armed members of the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. A man wearing a dark blue jacket and a black taqiyah – a traditional cap worn by some Muslim men –delivers the sentence in his capacity as a Sharia judge. The woman, accused of prostitution, is told, “She’s going to be executed.”

Several sources suggest that this public execution took place in Hafsarja, a village 23 kilometres northwest of Idlib.

FRANCE 24’s Observers were able to geolocate this footage by comparing it to another video from the same village, taken during an anti-regime protest in 2012. Cross-referencing the two videos, they identified identical buildings and structural elements, confirming the location.

By analysing the footage, we were able to identify several consistent elements in both videos, including a building entrance with a distinctive pillar (highlighted in red), several utility poles (marked in black and orange), and a centre road stripe (noted in blue).

In the video of an anti-regime protest, published on January 20, 2012, these same features are clearly visible, such as the central reservation in the road and the utility poles on the left.

These visual clues allowed us to pinpoint the location of the execution as the village of Hafsarja, specifically at a crossroads near the village mosque.

In the execution video, which FRANCE 24 has chosen not to publish, Shadi Al-Wassi can be seen reading out the sentence. Moments later, another man, dressed in black, approaches the kneeling woman and shoots her in the head at close range.

A second video documents another execution. This time, the victim is a woman wearing a black hijab and a red top. She, too, has been accused of prostitution. In the video, the woman can be seen pleading with Al-Nusra fighters to let her see her child one last time – a request they refuse. Instead, she is forced to her knees as the man in the dark blue jacket, believed to be Al-Wassi, announces the verdict. A second man, dressed in black, then steps forward and executes her with a gunshot to the head.

This second execution took place against a wall graffitied with the words: “The al Qaeda forces in Syria, Al-Nusra Front.”

Several posts on social media suggest that the second execution took place in the city of Ma’arit Misrin, approximately 10 kilometres northeast of Idlib. 

Despite the poor quality of the footage, we were able to identify several buildings and pieces of street furniture that matched the location.

The timeline of these two executions has also been established. The first, in Hafsarja, occurred on January 20, 2015 and was documented by Syrian Human Rights observers. The second, in Ma’arit Misrin, was also reported by Arab media outlets at the time, including the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya, which published an article about the execution on January 16, 2015.

The individual presiding over both executions as the Sharia judge is now Syria’s justice minister, a revelation that has triggered widespread outrage on social media. The identity of Shadi Al-Wassi has been independently confirmed by the Syrian fact-checking organisation Verify-Sy.

Al-Wassi’s identity has been independently confirmed by the Syrian fact-checking organisation “Verify-Sy‍ by HTS officials, who confirmed his identity.

Formerly a member of the Al-Nusra Front, Al-Wassi later aligned himself with the group’s leader, Ahmad Alsharaa. Alsharaa went on to found Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the Islamist group that seized Damascus in December, marking the end of the Assad family’s decades-long rule.

'It was not a rare incident in that era'

Although Shadi Al-Wassi was a relatively low-ranking Sharia judge at the time, the rulings he delivered reflect the broader policies of the Al-Nusra Front during that period, when public executions were a disturbingly common practice. Thomas Pierret, a leading expert on Islamist groups in Syria, explains:

These executions took place in a specific context known as the ‘Campaign for the Emirate’ between 2014 and 2015, when Al-Nusra acted even more ferociously in reaction to the caliphate declared by the Islamic State organisation in 2014.

Al-Nusra’s first response was to enforce Islamic Sharia law even more strictly, including filmed public executions. They sought to demonstrate a rigorous application of Sharia law and religious piety, particularly in the context of their heated rivalry with the Islamic State.

At the time, the situation was not favourable for Al-Nusra, as ISIS was the dominant military organisation and had the strongest ability to recruit foreign fighters.

These executions, in fact, formed part of Al-Nusra’s general strategy during 2014 and 2015.

I’d estimate that almost all members of Al-Nusra’s judicial system were complicit in this policy. These executions were not isolated incidents. We are discussing a very specific period and a highly particular context here.

Nevertheless, the leaders of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have been unable to fully distance themselves from the judges and fighters involved in such actions, despite this being the official policy of the group at the time.

 

Syria - What's Next > Old AntiChristian rivalries flare up; How to Win Friends and Influence People; Turkey looking for excuse to invade Syria

 

Syrian Christians are not necessarily better off with the new government in Damascus

Syria: Muslims threaten to seize Christian lands,

tell some Christians to leave their homes or be killed

Jan 1, 2025 3:00 pm By Robert Spencer

This is how all the lands that are today considered part of the “Islamic world” became Muslim. It was not done by “wisdom and beautiful preaching” (Qur’an 29:46), but by force, threats and intimidation. See The History of Jihad for the full story.

After an ‘isolated’ incident… Christian existential anxiety in Maaloula, Syria

translated from “بعد حادثة «فرديّة»… قلق مسيحيّ وجوديّ في معلولا السوريّة” ACI MENA, December 29, 2024:

Since the change in the ruling class in Syria, the Christians of Maaloula have been experiencing existential anxiety that has worsened after an incident that occurred between two Christian and Muslim families. So what is the story? And what is the reality of Christians today in this ancient Christian town?

A church source who preferred to remain anonymous told “ACI MENA” that the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, after regaining control of Maaloula about 10 years ago, prevented some of the town’s Muslims from returning to it because of their cooperation with the Al-Nusra Front in the killing, kidnapping, and vandalism of Christians and their churches. However, after the fall of the regime, these people returned and entered the town, and some of them exerted pressure on the Christians under the pretext that the Christians had worked to displace them.

The source explained: “Some of the deportees caused problems, and Christians were considered part of the previous regime, knowing that their joy at its fall exceeded that of others; most of our youth emigrated due to compulsory conscription or reserve service requests.”

Regarding the attacks on Christians, the source said: “Threats began against five Christian families to seize their agricultural lands, and some Christians were asked to leave their homes and the town or they would be killed. The reason for these threats was either an old vendetta or some Christians were accused of carrying weapons and joining the ‘National Defense.’”

The source added: “The threats turned into action when Bashar Shahin’s house and his family’s house and the cafeteria he owned were seized, despite some Muslims defending them. After mediation, he was allowed to take his belongings from the house. Two houses were also broken into and robbed. There are also other types of harassment and provocations, such as shooting near a priest while he was distributing Christmas gifts to children in a kindergarten, in addition to Christians informing a priest that they had been spat upon.

The source confirmed that the one in charge in Maaloula is a person who belongs to the Turkish Suleiman Shah faction (the name of the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire). Therefore, there were appeals from the people of Maaloula and its church officials for the intervention of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.

He explained: “The Christians of Maaloula do not feel reassured; with the absence of the state, upon whose presence we relied, security has disappeared, especially since weapons have been completely withdrawn from the Christians and left in the hands of others. We are advocates of peace and we want to build Maaloula hand in hand with all its residents.”

He continued: “The major incident occurred at dawn on December 26, when Abdul Salam Diab and his father stormed Ghassan Zakhem’s farm with the aim of stealing it, which resulted in the death of Abdul Salam. But unfortunately, it was portrayed as a religious issue and that Christians wanted to attack and kill Muslims, knowing that it was a purely individual issue.”

The source concluded by pointing out that this incident was the spark for many Christian families to leave the town out of fear, due to the lack of a force to protect them and ensure their safety. Out of about 325 Christian families, about 80 families left. The incident also led to the seizure of four Christian homes belonging to relatives of Zakham.

Regarding the details of the December 26 incident, an informed source from the Christian residents of Maaloula told ACI Mina: “Before Christmas, young men from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham insisted on Christians decorating their homes to avoid any problems, but things did not go normally.”

He continued: “At dawn on December 26, the surveillance cameras at Ghassan Zakhem’s farm indicated the presence of masked men who broke the lock on the farm’s door. Ghassan and his son Sarkis headed to the location immediately and asked the members of the security committees to accompany them, but they did not come despite their promise to come.”

The source confirmed that after the farm owners arrived at the location, an exchange of fire took place between the two parties, resulting in the death of the person who attacked the land (Abdul Salam). Ghassan turned himself in to Father Fadi Al-Barkil, who in turn handed him over to the competent authorities in Damascus to prevent any disastrous strife.

Dale Carnegie could write a new chapter in his classic, self-improvement book over this.

Anneke de Laaf

setonoprdS9gmu90u6iclcuucfil245288ghc22094u9gflffim8g1a6m4i0  · 

I had wondered about that and am not surprised they refused to shake her hand, it is the hate-beard’s way. Then again, why you would want to visit the headchoppers let alone shake their hand, is beyond me.

BERLIN, January 3. /TASS/. Representatives of the new Syrian authorities refused to shake hands with German Foreign Minister Annalene Baerbock during her visit to Damascus. This was reported by the DPA agency. Baerbock visited Syria together with her French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot.

At the Damascus airport, representatives of the welcoming party did not shake the minister's hand - a woman. Later, the leader of the armed groups that came to power in Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharaa, did exactly the same.

"As soon as I arrived, it was clear to me that there would obviously be no ordinary handshakes," Baerbock told reporters. She claimed that during the visit she made it clear to her hosts that the guests frowned upon the practice and that respect for women's rights was a measure of how free a society was.

Former head of the Berlin Foundation for Science and Politics Volker Perthes called the refusal to shake hands with a female minister a bad sign. "This is not a tradition in Syria," he told the Stern magazine. "This is not good, even if we know about it from other countries where men who represent extremely conservative Islam are in power, such as in Iran or until recently in Saudi Arabia," the political scientist believes.

Baerbock and Barrot became the first European foreign ministers to visit Syria since Bashar al-Assad stepped down as president.

All reactions:

11

Türkiye will intervene at ‘slightest risk’

of Syria splintering – Erdogan

Ankara has the means and the will to prevent Syria from being divided, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said

© Yavuz Ozden / dia images via Getty Images

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that his country will intervene if necessary to avoid any division of Syria and will be “uncompromising” in its determination. 

The comments from Erdogan are seen as a veiled warning to the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as well as to the US, which backs the group against Islamic State forces. 

“We cannot accept under any pretext that Syria be divided and if we notice the slightest risk we will take the necessary measures,” the Turkish leader said in remarks following the first cabinet meeting of 2025. 

He added that Ankara has “more than enough power, capacity, and talent to do this.”

Erdogan said Türkiye could “come suddenly one night” without warning to prevent a splintering of its neighbor. He insisted that there is “no place for terrorism in the future of the region” and that those who choose terror will be “buried with their weapons.”

Read more

 Erdogan threatens to ‘bury’ Kurds

Erdogan has repeatedly said that the Kurdish group poses a threat to Türkiye’s security and promised to prevent a “terror corridor” from opening up on its southern borders. Last month, he vowed to “bury” the Kurdish militants and called on NATO and the US to choose between supporting Türkiye or the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is operating near the Turkish and Iraqi borders, along with other Kurdish groups.

Ankara views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and regards both as terrorist organizations.

The SDF, dominated by the YPG, has called for a nationwide ceasefire in Syria following the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government in early December to Hayat Tahrir-al-Sham (HTS) jihadists. It has also called on the US to help protect Syrian territory from Turkish attacks and for an end to what it regards as Ankara’s occupation of the country’s northern regions.

However, around 100 people died in clashes between YPG forces and pro-Türkiye factions over the weekend, according to AFP.

READ MORE: US sends largest convoy into Syria since fall of Assad – media

Türkiye, meanwhile, has attempted to foster ties with the new Syrian leadership, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visiting Damascus last month and calling for the lifting of economically-crippling international sanctions on the country.