The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has expressed deep concern about the fact that Islamist war criminals and IS fighters are apparently being integrated into the new Syrian army, warning that the Foreign Office should refrain from downplaying the danger posed by the Islamist leaders in Syria.

“Even after Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock’s visit, officials of the German Foreign Office – and especially the German government’s Special Envoy for Syria, Stefan Schneck – are still supporting the Islamists. They, however, are currently trying to put together a Syrian “national army”. According to our information, Islamist war criminals and IS fighters are supposed to become part of this army,” warned Dr. Kamal Sido, the STP’s Middle East Consultant, in Göttingen today.

“Despite the many indications of the intentions of Syria’s new rulers, Mr. Schneck is even ignoring Foreign Minister Baerbock’s cautiously critical remarks on the subject of Islamism. Further, the role of the Kurds – who are an important counterpart to the Islamists and who are currently caught in a battle with IS – are not mentioned in his statements and interviews. Mr. Schneck also fails to mention NATO partner Turkey’s daily attacks on the Kurdish people in Syria: airstrikes and attacks with rocket launchers, heavy artillery, tanks, and combat drones,” the Middle East expert criticized.

The new Syrian army is said to mainly consist of Islamist groups. According to consistent information from the STP and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) in Great Britain, there are also numerous Islamists and war criminals among these Islamist forces – from the ranks of the “Islamic State”, but also former members of Islamist militias that have been occupying the Kurdish region of Afrin in the north-west of Syria and committing war crimes there since 2018. “We assume that some of the Islamists who have now become Syrian soldiers are former IS fighters who were involved in the attacks on the Yazidi people in Iraq in 2014. Back then, IS fighters had raped countless Yazidi women,” the human rights advocate stated. 

“In addition, the new Syrian army is to be trained by Turkish officers. This would be a tragedy for the non-Sunni and non-Arabic people of Syria. The Turkish army was factually turned into a radical Islamist force – especially under Erdoğan – and many of its officers are influenced by the inhumane Turkish-racist ideology of the “gray wolves”. This ideology is based on hatred against Kurds, Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians/Aramaeans, Christians, Yazidis, Jews, and especially Alevis/Alawites. A Syrian police force and army that is oriented towards the Turkish army and Erdoğan would be a significant danger to the minority groups, which make up at least half of the population, and for women who want to live emancipated lives,” the human rights activist warned.

“In the west of Syria, Islamists who are supposed to be integrated into the army are already hunting down Alawites and Christians. I am receiving more and more reports about people being murdered in the streets for allegedly collaborating with Assad. Christian people are suffering from repression as well, and Christmas trees and shrines are being burned in public places,” Sido reported.

The STP urgently calls on the German Federal Government to consider these fears and concerns in its new Syria policy. “It is high time that the entire Syria policy of the German authorities be thoroughly reviewed. It should no longer be managed by just a few officials in the Foreign Office. Many Kurds and members of other population groups in Syria are accusing the officials of sympathizing with Erdoğan and the Syrian Islamists,” Sido added.