sectarian war

Syria

Podcast: the new Syria in the Great Game

Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s White House meeting with Donald Trump followed the removal of his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the list of designated “terrorist organizations” both at the State Department and at the UN. It also coincided with raids against ISIS by his security forces, raising the prospect of his government being invited to join the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. The Washington visit also came just a month after al-Sharaa’s similar trip to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where a deal was brokered allowing Russia to keep its military bases in Syria. Amid all this, Syria continues to see forced disappearances and other abuses targetting Druze, Alawites and Kurds—pointing to the looming threat of an ethnic or sectarian internal war. The US troop presence in Syria is largely embedded among the Kurdish forces in the east. As al-Sharaa becomes a new “anti-terrorist” partner (or proxy) for the Great Powers, will these troops be withdrawn—providing a “green light” for Damascus to attack the Kurdish autonomous zone? In Episode 305 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg weighs the risks at this critical moment in Syria’s transition process, nearly one year after the fall of the Assad dictatorship. (Image: Pixabay)

Africa

Trump threatens Nigeria with military action, aid cut

US President Donald Trump said that he has ordered the Pentagon, or “Department of War,” to prepare contingency plans for potential military action in Nigeria. Trump alleged that the Nigerian government has failed to protect Christian communities from violent extremist attacks. The comments follow Trump’s declaration designating Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, citing what he described as an “existential threat” to Christianity. (Map: PCL)

Syria

Syria: continuing attacks on Druze population

UN human rights experts expressed deep concern Aug. 21 over continuing violence against the Druze population in the Suwayda region of Syria. Since the outbreak of fighting in mid-July, the UN experts said they have received reports of “killings, enforced disappearances, abductions, looting, destruction… Read moreSyria: continuing attacks on Druze population

Syria

Syria: investigate abductions of Alawite women and girls

Amnesty International called on Syria to investigate abductions of Alawite women and girls, and bring perpetrators to justice. Amnesty reported that at least 36 Alawite women and girls, some underage, have been abducted in Latakia, Tartous, Homs and Hama governorates since March, when a wave of violence against the Alawite community began. In some of these cases, the women were abducted “in broad daylight.” Some are believed to have been subject to forced marriages; others have been held for ransom, and in some cases married to their captives despite ransom payments. Amnesty charged that the Syrian authorities have failed to adequately investigate these abductions. (Photo: Protest against the massacre of Syrian Alawites in Washington DC. Credit: VOA via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

ICC convicts CAR Anti-Balaka militia leaders

The International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted two Anti-Balaka militia leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Central African Republic between 2013 and 2014. The pair were sentenced to 12 and 15 years in prison. The ICC found that the two led a campaign of violence targeting Muslim civilians in retaliation for months of looting and violence carried out by the Muslim-led Séléka rebel coalition, which had seized power in 2013. The convictions include charges of murder, intentionally attacking civilian populations, forcible transfer, torture and other inhumane acts, and persecution. (Map via Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Syria

Syria: revolution on the razor’s edge

The investigation by the Syrian transition government into the March violence against the Alawites in Latakia province has been submitted—but the full findings have not been made public, and it apparently exonerates the government of involvement. Meanwhile southern Suwayda province has seen a perhaps even deadlier eruption of violence—this time pitting Druze against Bedouin, with the role of the government similarly the source of much contestation (and fodder for Internet partisans). And a Damascus protest against the violence and for co-existence was attacked by goons. Amid all this, Israel is militarily intervening, the government looks to Turkey for military aid, and both the US and Russia still have forces on the ground—treating the country as a Greet Power chessboard. In Episode 288 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg warns that the Syrian Revolution is poised on a razor’s edge, ready to descend into ethno-sectarian war and authoritarianism unless political space can be kept open for the secular-democratic civil resistance that began the revolution 14 years ago. (Image: Banners read “Syrians must not shed Syrian blood” and “We reject Israeli aggression against Syria.” Credit: The Syria Campaign via Facebook)

Syria

Syria: demand accountability in killings of Alawites

Amnesty International urged Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, to ensure the publication of all the findings of a fact-finding committee’s investigation into the targeted killings of members of Syria’s Alawite minority. The fact-finding committee was established in March, as al-Sharaa pledged to hold perpetrators accountable following mass killings in the coastal provinces of of Latakia and Tartous. The killings, which followed insurgent attacks on security forces in the region, appear to have been carried out by Sunni militias aligned with Syria’s transitional government. (Map: Google)

Syria

Syrian Alawites flee to Lebanon, with little aid to meet them

Nearly 40,000 people have fled Syria’s sectarian violence for neighboring Lebanon over the past three months. With many fearful of returning anytime soon, their arrival adds a new layer to Lebanon’s protracted humanitarian crisis at a moment when aid groups are badly underfunded and overstretched. Most of the new arrivals are Alawites, a religious minority targeted in a wave of killings in March that saw forces aligned with the new Syrian government carry out retaliatory massacres in Alawite-majority areas. This came after groups loyal to the former regime of Bashar al-Assad attacked security forces. Assad is an Alawite and Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, where the attack too place, was his stronghold of support. (Photo: Aid boxes arrive at the Massoudiyeh mosque. Credit: Hanna Davis/TNH)

Syria

Israel escalates Syria strikes —in name of protecting Druze

Syrian Druze leader Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri accused the interim government of carrying out a “genocidal attack” on his community following two days of sectarian violence that left 100 dead. Clashes broke out in the Damascus suburbs of Jaramana and Sahnaya, and armed residents began to mobilize in the Druze-majority southern city of Suwayda before a truce was reached. But by then Israel had escalated its military intervention in Syria, launching air-strikes on targets around Damascus. In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the IDF had “struck an extremist group” that was killing members of the Druze community. This is presumably a reference to the now ostensibly disbanded Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the leading faction in the forces that took power in Syria and formed the transition government late last year. It is unclear who launched the attacks that sparked the fighting, which were condemned by the interim government. (Map: PCL)

Syria

UN Syria envoy: ‘fragile’ moment in transition process

The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, warned of grave consequences for the country’s future without genuine political inclusion and urgent economic support for a successful political transition. During a briefing to the Security Council, Pedersen noted the legacies of misrule, conflict and exclusion in Syria, stating that “the situation is inherently still extremely fragile.” The new government announced by President Ahmad al-Sharaa in March is more diverse, but still includes one woman in the 22-member cabinet: Hind Kabawat, a Catholic, who was appointed as minister of Labor & Social Affairs. Recalling the recent violence in the coastal region, Pedersen urged the new government to ensure that all segments of Syrian society are protected, and to prevent individuals or groups from taking justice into their own hands or committing revenge-driven attacks. The statement noted that such sporadic incidents continue to be reported. (Photo: SANA)

Africa

Wagner-trained forces commit atrocities in CAR

A UN report finds that armed groups operating in the Haut Oubangui region of the Central African Republic (CAR) have been carrying out attacks against Muslim communities and Sudanese refugees, resulting in grave human rights violations. The report, prepared jointly by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), mainly attributes these attacks to Wagner Ti Azande (WTA), a militia affiliated with the national army. The WTA received training last year from the Russian private military company Wagner Group, from whom it takes its name. (Photo of CAR troops wearing the Wagner Group insignia via Corbeau News Centrafrique)

Syria

External, internal challenges for Syrian Revolution

Apparent Assad loyalists have taken up arms against Syria’s transitional government in the Alawite heartland of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast. Fighting meanwhile continues between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, while Israel grabs a “security zone” in the south and continues intermittent air-strikes. Elsewhere in the south, the Druze of Suweida protest their perceived exclusion from the transition process. All this as Russia opens talks with the new authorities in a bid to keep its military bases in Syrian territory. (Map: PCL)