Syria: Human rights groups say jihadis are telling Christians ‘you’re next’

Eyewitnesses are confirming continuously that it is Syrian leader al-Jolani’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadists who are massacring civilians in Syria and trying to cover it up. Most of the mainstream media believed that al-Jolani was suddenly transformed into a “moderate,” and continue to support and run interference for him despite his barbaric history and continued actions against minorities, primarily the Alawites — the sect to which al-Assad belonged. France 24’s “terrorism expert” Wassim Nasr is calling the victims the instigators, saying that the jihad massacre of the Alawites was actually “the first coordinated attack by remnants of the Assad regime.” He then quoted al-Jolani as saying that he would hold responsible “anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians.”

A month ago, the mainly leftist-run EU was quick to believe in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and lift sanctions:

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the armed jihadi group leading the offensive against the Assad forces, has now taken charge of the country and set up a caretaker government. Scepticism abounds in international circles about HTS owing to the group’s terrorist credentials and Salafist ideology. However, the new Syrian authorities have declared plans to establish a political transition inclusive of all minorities and segments of Syrian society, as well as increased engagement with neighbouring countries and other foreign players.

But eyewitness have continued to say that it is al-Jolani’s forces who are responsible for the current mass slaughter, which already includes Christians and Druze, and the jihadis are now threatening Christians further. Yet the Arab League also supports al-Jolani, and the Western world is abandoning the Syrian minorities, so as to not cause conflict with the Muslim countries who have embraced him. A list of human rights organizations have identified al-Jolani’s HTS jihadists on the ground. They include Global Christian Relief,  the Iraqi Christian Foundation, International Christian Concern; and also the Vatican-affiliated news agency Asia News has reported HTS on the ground “in evidence for the killing of over 800 Christians based on their religion.”

“Human Rights Groups: Syria Jihadis Tell Christians ‘You’re Next’ amid Alawite Slaughter,” by Frances Martel, Breitbart, March 12, 2925:

Humanitarian groups helping persecuted Christians shared reports this week of Islamic extremists attacking and threatening the remaining Christian minority in Syria, warning they were “next” after the elimination of Alawite Shia Muslims.

Syria experienced a sudden eruption of violence against Alawites in its western coastal territories this weekend, attacks described as “revenge” against the minority for perceived support of ousted dictator Bashar Assad. Assad and his family are Alawites, a minority sect within Shia Islam, and Sunni jihadists in the country consider all who share that identity opposed to their goals. Those jihadists have been emboldened by Assad’s ouster in December, which occurred after the Al Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a massively successful conquest campaign in late November 2024.

The HTS government, led by top jihadi Ahmed al-Sharaa, claimed on Thursday that a group of Assad sympathizers launched attacks against their forces in Latakia governate, an Alawite stronghold. Sharaa’s regime admitted to launching an “operation” against the alleged fighters, but claimed to avoid any civilian casualties. The regime ultimately admitted to widespread evidence of such atrocities and promised to establish a “committee” to investigate them. On Tuesday, they claimed to have arrested four people for violence that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a monitor group, documented had killed about 1,500 people and counting, hundreds of them confirmed civilians.

Widespread reports indicated that unknown jihadist parties massacred entire Alawite families in their homes and a drone strike campaign against rural Alawite communities. SOHR described the violence as “the bloodiest revenge ever since the fall of Al-Assad regime.”

While the attacks have overwhelmingly targeted Alawites, some reports indicate that Christians have also suffered threats and attacks. Under Assad, Christians were allowed to maintain churches and worship so long as they did not challenge Assad politically; the regime imprisoned and eliminated many Christian political dissidents, but did not persecute Christianity itself. As a result, the same Sunni jihadists who view Alawites as irredeemably pro-Assad distrust Christian communities and see them unfit to integrate into the fabric of the country, despite Christianity’s much more ancient presence in the country than Islam…….