https://sputniknews.in/20241220/persecution-looms-for-syrias-minorities-after-fall-of-damascus-8578761.html
Persecution Looms for Syria’s Minorities After Fall of Damascus
Persecution Looms for Syria’s Minorities After Fall of Damascus
Sputnik India
The Druze, Kurds, Shia Ismailis and Alawites, Christians face severe risk amid the ongoing crisis in Syria, following the downfall of Bashar Assad's regime... 20.12.2024, Sputnik India
2024-12-20T18:48+0530
2024-12-20T18:48+0530
2024-12-20T18:48+0530
world news
syria
syrian civil war
russia
daesh (isis/is/islamic state)
terrorism
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Around 90,000 Syrians have entered Lebanon since the collapse of the Bashar al-Assad government, according to Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. Minorities from Syria are fleeing to Lebanon in fear of persecution, it reported.After the downfall of Damascus and the rise of some ISIS* cells, Syria's minorities, including Druze, Kurds, Christians, as well as Ismailis and Alawites (branches of Shia Islam), face severe risks, experts told Sputnik India.These groups are vulnerable to persecution, violence, forced displacement, and even cultural erasure, professor Ashok Swain, an academic and head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden's Uppsala University, told Sputnik India. Targeted killings, forced conversions, and massacres had already occurred in ISIS-controlled regions, forcing many minorities to flee their ancestral lands, he added.The destruction of sacred religious sites threatens their cultural and spiritual heritage, while the prospect of political marginalisation in a post-Assad Syria could further compromise their safety and rights, the professor stressed.Direct threats could affect particularly Shia Ismailis and Alawites, Noor Dahri, a UK-based think tanker and executive director of Islamic theology of counter-terrorism, told Sputnik India. Abu Mohammad Julani, the leader of HTS, has claimed that minority rights will be protected under his rule, except for those whose hands are stained with innocent Syrian blood.Julani has reportedly issued a number of recommendations, statements, and notices to ensure that no one harasses or harms the Christian or Kurdish communities.In regions occupied by Turkiye-backed forces, particularly in parts of Aleppo, a troubling trend of resettlement policies has been applied, Wahhab Hassoo, a Dutch human rights activist, ambassador and director of the NL Helpt Yezidi's foundation, told Sputnik India.These policies involve replacing indigenous communities with settlers, forcing thousands of Kurds, Armenians, Yazidis, and Christians to abandon their native lands. This pattern is not new, as similar events have occurred in Iraq and a similar fate may await the country after the downfall of Assad's regime, he cautioned.Damascus, once a safe-haven for centuries, holds immense significance in both Christian and Islamic history, but now safety and security of the city have been eroded, he summed up.* ISIS (also known as Daesh/ISIL/IS), ISIS-K, ISKP, TTP - terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other countries
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syria, minorities,assad, kurd, christians
syria, minorities,assad, kurd, christians
Persecution Looms for Syria’s Minorities After Fall of Damascus
The Druze, Kurds, Shia Ismailis and Alawites, Christians face severe risk amid the ongoing crisis in Syria, following the downfall of Bashar Assad's regime, experts have said.
Around 90,000 Syrians have entered Lebanon since the collapse of the
Bashar al-Assad government, according to Lebanese daily
Al-Akhbar. Minorities from Syria are fleeing to Lebanon in fear of persecution, it reported.
After the downfall of Damascus and the rise of some ISIS* cells, Syria's minorities, including Druze, Kurds, Christians, as well as Ismailis and Alawites (branches of Shia Islam), face severe risks, experts told Sputnik India.
These groups are vulnerable to persecution, violence, forced displacement, and even cultural erasure, professor Ashok Swain, an academic and head of the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Sweden's Uppsala University, told Sputnik India. Targeted killings, forced conversions, and massacres had already occurred in ISIS-controlled regions, forcing many minorities to flee their ancestral lands, he added.
The destruction of sacred religious sites threatens their cultural and spiritual heritage, while the prospect of political marginalisation in a post-Assad Syria could further compromise their safety and rights, the professor stressed.
"Damascus, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, holds profound significance in both Christian and Muslim scriptures. Christians revere it as the site of Paul the Apostle’s conversion, while Muslims associate it with prophecies and Islamic scholarship," Swain emphasised. "Iconic landmarks like the Umayyad Mosque [known as the Great Mosque] and the Chapel of Saint Paul are irreplaceable cultural symbols. Their destruction would mean the permanent loss of a shared human history, depriving future generations of essential connections to their spiritual and historical roots."
Direct threats could affect particularly Shia Ismailis and Alawites, Noor Dahri, a UK-based think tanker and executive director of Islamic theology of counter-terrorism, told Sputnik India. Abu Mohammad Julani, the leader of HTS, has claimed that minority rights will be protected under his rule, except for those whose hands are stained with innocent Syrian blood.
Julani has reportedly issued a number of recommendations, statements, and notices to ensure that no one harasses or harms the Christian or Kurdish communities.
"Yet again, Julani wants to present a new image to the world for acceptance, so there are fewer chances that he would destroy any historical and cultural heritage. Julani aims to rule without repeating the mistakes that ISIS made during their brief period of control. No other Islamist groups or various rebel factions have the capability to destroy Syrian cultural heritage, nor do any foreign forces have the intention to strike those sites," the expert highlighted.
In regions occupied by
Turkiye-backed forces, particularly in parts of
Aleppo, a troubling trend of resettlement policies has been applied,
Wahhab Hassoo, a Dutch human rights activist, ambassador and director of the NL Helpt Yezidi's foundation, told
Sputnik India.
These policies involve replacing indigenous communities with settlers, forcing thousands of Kurds, Armenians, Yazidis, and Christians to abandon their native lands. This pattern is not new, as similar events have occurred in Iraq and a similar fate may await the country after the downfall of Assad's regime, he cautioned.
"Regarding Syria's historical and cultural richness, the destruction of heritage sites has been catastrophic. What remains after ISIS' brutality is now under threat from other jihadist terrorist groups, which continue to target and destroy historical monuments. This is not just a loss for Syria, but a tragedy for all of humanity," he said.
Damascus, once a safe-haven for centuries, holds immense significance in both Christian and Islamic history, but now safety and security of the city have been eroded, he summed up.
* ISIS (also known as Daesh/ISIL/IS), ISIS-K, ISKP, TTP - terrorist organisations banned in Russia and many other countries
