Following Bashar al-Assad’s latest ouster, ethnic Syrian Alawites have discovered themselves more and more anxious over the long run underneath HTS rule, whereas requires rights safety and inclusive governance proceed to rise.
As 1000’s rejoice the ousting of President Bashar Al-Assad in Umayyad Sq. in central Damascus day-after-day, many Syrian Alawites say issues over the way forward for their nation make them stay cautious, if not outright anxious.
After Al-Assad fled to Russia on 8 December following a lightning army operation led by the rebels headquartered within the northern province of Idlib that took all of them the best way to the Syrian capital, a brutal civil warfare that’s lasted for over 13 years got here to an finish.
However Ahmed*, a middle-aged receptionist, fears this could possibly be the start of a brand new time period of oppression for his household.
“We’re seeing movies from Latakia, the place the HTS is rounding folks up,” he says, referring to the militant group Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa.
“My spouse is crying day-after-day and needs to go away,” he says, whispering.
HTS, which at previously espoused a world jihadist technique, is designated as a terrorist organisation by European international locations and the US alike. Al-Sharaa, aka Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, is a Sunni Muslim with previous ties to al-Qaeda, and its Syrian satellite tv for pc, Jabhat Al-Nusra.
Previously, there was even a $10-million (€9.6m) bounty on any info that would result in al-Sharaa.
However just lately, the US, the UK, France, Turkey, and others have all lined as much as make high-level official contact with the group.
Since al-Assad’s fall, Jolani has began making statements in civilian clothes and even shortened his beard, a transfer largely believed to be a sign of his extra average beliefs — however this hasn’t actually helped Ahmed and his household let go of their worries.
Ahmed says his anxiousness over former jihadis now doesn’t imply that he prefers al-Assad, underneath whose rule he and his compatriots suffered in poverty whereas tens of 1000’s of individuals disappeared, a whole bunch of 1000’s had been killed, and thousands and thousands of individuals turned refugees the world over.
“However they don’t look something like us,” he says with concern, exhibiting the headshots of the transition cupboard the HTS arrange.
Idlib, the place the HTS is predicated and has dominated since 2017, portrays a really conservative lifestyle, the place most ladies cowl their hair, fingers and typically their faces from an early age and the place most males have lengthy beards.
To an outdoor observer, a few of it could be paying homage to locations dominated by different spiritual extremists: In August, the Syrian Salvation Authorities, HTS’ government model, imposed gender segregation in faculties throughout Idlib.
The coverage foresaw “distancing from [fashion] tendencies which are totally different to our faith’s teachings and our traditions” and the enforcement of “Sharia-compliant apparel”.
Sharia courts exist throughout the province, in accordance with the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights NGO.
The transitional authorities set to rule the whole nation and led by the interim Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir, consists of short-term ministers of inside, financial system, well being and judiciary, amongst others, who’re anticipated to carry their positions till March, in accordance with the HTS.
The whole interim cupboard is made up of Sunni males. But Syria, a heartland of numerous civilisations, is rather more various than that.
Whereas a majority of the nation’s inhabitants of 24 million is made up of Sunnis, between 10-13% are Alawites, a department of Islam and the biggest minority group in Syria, which can also be house to Kurds, Christians, Druze, and others.
Bashar al-Assad and his father, former President Hafez al-Assad, are themselves Alawites from Latakia and had been recognized to have put in folks from their ethnic group to high-level positions within the army and authorities for the reason that Seventies, the start of their dynasty.
But Syria’s extraordinary Alawites, primarily dwelling within the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, but additionally a big quantity residing in Damascus and Homs, weren’t favoured underneath al-Assad when it comes to their freedoms, one younger Syrian says.
“It was worse for me underneath al-Assad,” Hussein*, a 21-year-old engineering scholar, explains, standing in entrance of a small market dotting a small highway in Mezzah 86, a neighbourhood of Damascus the place many Alawites reside.
“I wasn’t proud of al-Assad, but when I mentioned that, I might be (thought of) a traitor. So, double dangerous for me.”
Now, trying forward, he says he wish to imagine the guarantees made by the HTS since 8 December, together with to guard his rights as a minority and to not go from one oppression to the opposite.
“Nobody has the proper to erase one other group. These sects have coexisted on this area for a whole bunch of years, and nobody has the proper to get rid of them,” al-Sharaa mentioned in a tv interview following the rebels’ victory.
On Wednesday, he promised, too, that Syria won’t turn out to be “Afghanistan” in relation to women’ schooling.
These guarantees are necessary however have to be watched very carefully, says Adam Coogle, deputy director of the Center East-North Africa division at Human Rights Watch.
“Syria’s transitional authorities ought to shield the rights of all Syrians equally and clarify that acts of revenge outdoors the rule of legislation won’t be tolerated,” he urges.
In the meantime, experiences of Alawite troopers being saved in HTS-held prisons proceed to flow into, although Euronews can not independently confirm these claims.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Growth Social gathering or AKP, the political actor with good relations with the HTS, has underlined the necessity for this to be a mannequin that’s “respectful of freedom of religion”.
In an interview given to native media just lately, Ömer Çelik, the social gathering’s spokesman, mentioned, “Sunnis will respect Shias, Shias will respect Sunnis … A mannequin the place all ethnic and spiritual teams stay collectively. We are saying, ‘Syria belongs to Syrians’.”
He additionally urged: “If there is no such thing as a inclusive governance mannequin, sadly, beneficial properties are misplaced and larger conflicts come up. There must be a mannequin of widespread will.”
Final Thursday, Syria’s new authorities froze the structure and the parliament for a interval of three months.
In the meanwhile, it’s not but clear whether or not a brand new Syria could have a civil structure that is the same as all folks from totally different backgrounds.
Syrian Alawites who spoke to Euronews all mentioned they would like that, and a Syria for all Syrian folks.
*The names of Syrians who spoke to Euronews had been modified to guard their identities.
