02/04/2025

The situation of the minority groups in Syria is tense

Human rights activists warn against trivializing the Islamists

The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) warns against trivializing the new leaders in Syria, in view of new evidence that they are aiming to establish an Islamist regime. “We welcome the fact that German politicians are visiting Syria to inform themselves about the current situation there. However, they have the responsibility to try and get a comprehensive picture – and they must make sure not to trivialize the Islamist leaders. In order to do this, it is important for them to acknowledge that the Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians/Arameans, Alawites, Druze, Christians, Ismailis, and Yazidis are living in fear of the HTS militia, other Islamist militias, and the ideology of political Islam in general,” stated Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East consultant.

Most recently, Hannah Neumann, MEP of the Green Party, reported on her trip to Syria and gave the impression that the people in Damascus were able to speak freely. “It is important to clarify that this is not true for everyone. It is especially the members of minority groups who are being persecuted and harassed by the transitional government in Syria. In telephone conversations with people in Damascus, I often hear that they are afraid to speak out critically about the Islamist leaders. Outside of Damascus, the situation is often even worse. Since the fall of the Assad regime, one thing in particular has changed: whom the people are afraid of,” stated the human rights advocate, who was born in northern Syria.

“There is increasing evidence that the leader of the Islamist HTS militia, Ahmed al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammed al-Golani), who illegally declared himself interim president, will not keep his promise of moderate governance and is heading the opposite way. Members of the HTS are murdering, kidnapping, and looting – especially in the province of Homs, for example. It is especially the Alawite minority and Christian communities that are affected,” the Middle East consultant warned.

In the province of Hama – which shares a border with the Alawites’ heartland on the Syrian Mediterranean coast, where Christians and Ismailis live as well – the new ruler al-Sharaa has made war criminal Mohammad Hussein al-Jasim (a.k.a. Abu Amsha) commander of the 25th division. He was the leader of one of the most notorious militias in Syria: the “Sultan Murad Fraction”. He and his militia are responsible for numerous war crimes such as murders, rape, abductions, robberies, and lootings – especially in the Syrian-Kurdish region of Afrin and other parts of northern Syria. “He and his militia were sanctioned by the United States. For his services to Turkish leader Erdoğan, however, he was rewarded with Turkish citizenship. For Erdoğan, he recruited men to fight the Armenians in the South Caucasus, and fighters for Erdoğan’s wars in Africa. Ideologically, he is not only a Sunni Islamist, but also a supporter of the racist ideology of the Turkish “Grey Wolves”.

“There is an acute danger that Abu Amsha will devastate the last two relatively large Christian towns in Hama Province, As-Suqailabiyya and Mhardeh, and force the people to leave the region through looting and raids – similar to what happened in the Kurdish region of Afrin. This also applies to the region of Salamiyya, further to the east,” Sido added. As-Suqailabiyya has around 19,000 inhabitants (2010) and Mhardeh around 30,000 inhabitants. Salamiyya is the center of the Syrian Ismailis, with around 200,000 people living there.

“Many areas in northern Syria are still occupied by Turkey or are currently under attack from Turkish-backed militias. When discussing the situation in the country, politicians and journalists should emphasize that these attacks are violations of international law and that Turkey is supporting the ‘Islamic State’ and other Islamist groups which are not only responsible for mass murders of minorities in the region, but are also a threat to our security in Germany,” the Middle East consultant stated.