Syria: Fear of new violence in Syria

After the recent outbreaks of violence, Alawites in Syria are afraid of new violence. At the same time, the new tour in Damascus tries to become the country after the years of the civil war. Human rights organizations ask the new rulers to protect all civilians alike. According to their assessment, execution scenes took part in parts of the country last weekend.

Armed supporters of the fallen government had attacked security forces in Latakia on Thursday, whereupon the transitional government reacted with a military operation. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, around 1,500 people are said to have been killed, mostly civilians. According to the independent observers in particular, Alawites were targeted in military operation. The transitional government saw an attempt by the Assad Loyalists behind the violent outbreak of violence to plunge the country into a new civil war.

Local residents: “Everyone is afraid”

In the meantime there is calm in the affected coastal areas, the observation center reported. Nevertheless, many residents, mainly Alawites, still didn’t dare to go back to their places of residence. “Everyone is afraid,” said a resident of the Syrian coastal city of Banjas of the German Press Agency. Many people were still in surrounding mountain regions.

Around 1,000 people had sought refuge in the Russian air force base Hmeimim on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, said the director of the Observatory based in Great Britain, Rami Abdel-Rahman, the dpa. The “New York Times” also reported about it, citing satellite images. Hundreds of people were therefore on the grounds of the base and the adjacent Latakia Airport.

Un: Targeted murder of entire families

The UN human rights office sees out-of-court executions in many documented killings from the weekend, which were due to denominational belonging. Reports of the targeted murder of entire families, including women, children and other people who are not involved in fighting, are particularly stirring. The eyewitness reports cited in the UN report that attackers in houses would have asked whether the residents were Alawites or Sunnis-depending on the answer, they were either killed or spared. Survivors described that many men had been shot in front of their families.

HRW: civilians must be protected

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) was similar. “Syria’s new leadership has promised to break with the horrors of the past, but there are reports of massive atrocities on mostly Alawite Syrians,” said Adam Coogle, deputy HRW director for the Middle East and North Africa. The government must “act immediately and decisively to protect civilians and to be responsible for arbitrary shots, executions and other serious crimes”.

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock sentenced “the targeted killing of hundreds of civilians” as a crime and demanded a complete education. Peace is only possible if all citizens could live equally and in safety, she wrote it on X. The Syrian Catholic Archbishop of Homs, Jacques Mourad, condemned the attacks on Alawites as “terrible crimes” and blamed the new government for this.

An investigation committee of the Syrian authorities emphasized that the country was determined to protect the rule of law and civil rights, prevent illegal retaliation and to avoid impunity.

Negotiations with Drusian community from the south

The leadership drives their efforts to unite the country. Long-term power holder Bashar al-Assad was overthrown by rebels in early December. The country was deeply divided during the civil war. After the Kurdish -led Syrian democratic forces (SDF) already agreed with the transitional government on a complete integration into the state institutions on Monday, according to the first reports, the drusian community from the south should now also follow.

President Ahmed al-Sharaa met the governor of Suweida and activists and residents from the southern region in Damascus, the state news agency Sana reported. According to Syrian security circles and Arab media reports, there is a preliminary agreement on the table that provides for the region to integrate the region into the state institutions.

So far, there has been no official explanation or confirmation. According to reports, high -ranking Drusian representatives are not yet agreed. If there is an agreement, control over the entire territory of Syria would be in the administration of the transitional government. The agreement for integrating the SDF already marks a turning point. The northeast has so far been under Kurdish self -government.