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Syria’s new rulers warn against incitement as tensions brew
The violence in Tartous Province, part of the coastal region that is home to many members of Assad’s Alawite sect, has marked the deadliest challenge yet to the new authorities which swept him from power on Dec. 8, Reuters reported.
The security forces launched the Tartous operation to “control security, stability, and civil peace, and to pursue the remnants of Assad’s militias in the woods and hills”, state news agency SANA reported.
The crackdown was announced as the Damascus authorities warned of an attempt to incite sectarian strife, after a video dating from late November circulated on social media showing a fire inside an Alawite shrine in Aleppo. The interior ministry said unknown groups perpetrated the violence and that its forces were working “night and day” to protect religious sites.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al-Qaeda affiliate which led the militant campaign that toppled Assad, has repeatedly vowed to protect minority groups. Many members of minority groups, including Christians, are worried about the policies of the new rulers.
In a predominantly Alawite neighborhood of Damascus, Alawite sheikh Ali Dareer said that homes had been vandalized and people beaten on the basis of their religious identity, despite HTS promises the sect would be treated with respect. He blamed “a third party” trying to incite discord.
Dareer told Reuters that the community had extended its hand to the new government but there “have been many violations”, citing multiple accounts of people being beaten at a checkpoint.
An HTS fighter in the area said there had been an incident on Thursday in which Alawites were taken off a bus and beaten because of their religion, but denied that HTS was responsible.
“This is a matter of sedition, and we don’t want to be dragged into it,” Dareer said. “Thousands of people are filled with resentment, anxiety, and their dignity is offended,” he said. “However, we must remain committed to peace.”
Underlining sectarian tensions, protesters chanted slogans during a rally outside local government headquarters in Tartous, images posted on social media on Wednesday showed.
Mohammed Othman, the newly appointed governor of the coastal Latakia region adjoining Tartous, met Alawite sheikhs to “encourage community cohesion and civil peace”, SANA reported.
The Syrian information ministry declared a ban on what it described as “the circulation or publication of any media content or news with a sectarian tone aimed at spreading division”.