Protests in Syria: Several dead when ex-officer is arrested

A good two weeks after the overthrow of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, according to the interim government, Assad supporters shot and killed more than a dozen security forces. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, security forces were ambushed in the western port city of Tartus while trying to arrest an ex-officer for his alleged role in the notorious Saidnaya military prison. It was said that 14 emergency services were shot and others were injured. Accordingly, three of the young perpetrators were also killed.

In addition, according to the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, a video supposedly showing the desecration of an Alawite shrine in the city of Aleppo caused angry protests in several cities across the country. The family of the deposed ruler Assad also belongs to the Alawite religious minority. According to the interim government’s Interior Ministry, the shrine of a Muslim sheikh was vandalized “by unknown groups” in November, when the rebel offensive on the city of Aleppo began.

On December 8, Assad was overthrown by a rebel alliance led by the Islamist group Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). According to the interim government, the “old video” is now being deliberately distributed on the Internet in order to “cause discord,” the Arabic broadcaster reported. Because of the protests, a nighttime curfew was imposed in the city of Homs, according to the Syrian Observatory based in Britain. “This is an attack on all members of the Alawites in Syria,” said a resident of the German Press Agency.

Just on Monday evening, unknown people set fire to a Christmas tree in Al-Sukailabija in Hama province. One person was arrested. Hundreds of Christians and Muslims then took to the streets in Damascus and other cities and demonstrated against the act. In a statement, the interim government’s Interior Ministry warned against rumors “aimed at destabilizing the country and disrupting civil peace.” Remaining Assad supporters would take advantage of this. Christians, Alawites and other minorities fear repression after the coup.

Meanwhile, the interim government’s foreign minister, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, warned Iran against “spreading chaos in Syria.” Tehran must “respect the will of the Syrian people and the sovereignty and security of the country,” he wrote on Platform new structures in the country. Syrian youth in particular will once again resist those who have repeatedly made their country and their future unsafe.

The fall of the long-standing Syrian ruler Assad was a serious blow for Iran, which saw its entire Middle East policy weakened as a result. Assad was considered a strategically important ally in Iran’s self-proclaimed “axis of resistance” against arch-enemy Israel. Syria also served as a corridor for Iranian arms deliveries to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. Therefore, the country generously supported Assad, both financially and militarily, and branded the HTS alliance as terrorist.

“It is still too early to judge the future of Syria, because many factors can still significantly influence the political situation there,” said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, without going into detail. This applies to all sides, and therefore those “who currently feel like they are certain winners” should not rejoice too soon, the Iranian news agency Isna quoted him as saying. Although Tehran claims to maintain diplomatic contacts with the new rulers in Syria, permission to reopen the embassy in Damascus is still pending. The HTS also banned Iranian airlines from flying to the Syrian capital.