By arming the sectarian insurgency that now rules Syria, the US and its allies bear responsibility for the current slaughter of Alawite civilians and other minority groups.
Aaron Maté
March 10, 2025
Aaron Maté
March 10, 2025
(Photo by Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)
Since Friday, fighters loyal to Syria’s new Al Qaeda offshoot government have massacred hundreds of people in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, the heartland of Syria’s Alawite population. Contacts in Syria have shared stories, corroborated by gruesome videos circulating on social media, of outright pogroms: entire families murdered in their homes; residents rounded up and executed in the streets; shops looted and burned to the ground; and thousands hiding in mountains and farmland from the marauding killers, many of them foreign fighters. According to the Washington Post, “witnesses said the gunmen who wrought carnage were indistinguishable from government forces.” This has resulted in massive displacement, with thousands of civilians seeking refuge anywhere they can, including a Russian military base, churches, and neighboring Lebanon.
The slaughter followed a deadly ambush against government troops near the coastal city of Jableh, which then sparked similar attacks in Syria’s northwest. Yet rather than target their armed foes, Sunni militants under the control of Syria’s new government unleashed a wave of sectarian violence against civilians belonging to minority groups, namely Alawites and Christians. The violence directed at ordinary Syrians stands in stark contrast to the new government’s response to invading Israeli forces, who have conquered large swaths of Syrian territory since Assad’s ouster in December. On that front, the new government has not fired a single shot.
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