Al-Sharaa and Syria’s Minorities

Many Western governments are still not sure what to make of Ahmad al-Sharaa, the leader of the new provisional government in Syria. In the past, he supported Al-Qaeda, but now claims that he dropped that connection years ago, and is no longer interested in building a caliphate, but as the leader of the chief rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is interested only in building a new, more decent Syria after Bashar Assad’s regime was overthrown. He has, of course, sought to reassure doubters; after all, he wants both international legitimacy and financial support to help him rebuild the country’s infrastructure, shattered after more than a decade of civil war.

He has traded in his combat fatigues for a suit and tie. He has assured Syria’s many minorities — the Alawites, Kurds, Druze, and Christians — that they have nothing to fear, and will be treated as equals to the Sunni Muslims.

But his actions belie those assurances. He managed to persuade the Kurds to sign an agreement, by which their armed militia, the Syrian Democratic Forces, would be integrated into the Syrian national army. But just a few weeks after that agreement was signed, Kurds have been having second thoughts and are no longer willing to put their own forces under Sunni Arab control. After all, the new government in Damascus has close ties to Turkey, that was the chief backer of the HTS when it was still a rebel group in Idlib Province. And the Turks, apparently with the approval of Damascus, have just taken over the T2 military airbase in Syria, and intend to use it as a base of operations not just against ISIS remnants, but also against Kurds in northeast Syria. The Turks are determined to whittle away at Kurdish autonomy, for Ankara fears the possibility of Kurds in Syria linking up with separatist Kurds inside Turkey.

On March 29 Ahmad al-Sharaa announced the makeup of the transitional government in Damascus. It is made up overwhelmingly of Sunni Muslims, who now will fill 23 of the 27 leadership positions. Meanwhile, the Alawites, Kurds, Druze, Christians will each have a single representative in the 27-man government. Arub Badr, an Alawite, was named transportation minister, while Amgad Badr, a Druze, will be Minister of Agriculture, and Hind Kabawat, a Christian woman, will be the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. A Kurd, Mohammad Turko, was named Minister of Education.

However, on March 30, the Kurdish-led administration in north-eastern Syria rejected the newly formed government in Damascus, saying it failed to be inclusive of the country’s minorities.The Kurds were not impressed with 23 of the 27 ministerial positions going to Sunni Muslims, while each of the four minorities had only one position apiece. “Syria reveals new religiously diverse interim government,” by Alex MacDonald, Middle East Eye, March 30, 2025

In a statement, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) said they did “not consider ourselves bound by the implementation or enforcement of decisions made by this government.

“Any government that does not reflect the country’s diversity and plurality cannot ensure proper governance of Syria,” it said.

The Kurds are not the only minority unconvinced of Ahmad al-Sharaa’s good intentions. The Druze have now said that they will not allow their militia to become part of a national army, but will remain strictly under Druze control. The Druze were alarmed by the Sunni Muslims, including some from HTS, who recently slaughtered over a thousand Alawites, almost all of them civilians, in Latakia and Tartous. Al-Sharaa has vowed to punish those guilty of those murders, but so far almost nothing has been done. Some of the Druze have publicly announced that they are looking to Israel to defend them against any military actions threatened against them by the provisional government. In Hader, a Druze village south of Damascus, the inhabitants have even asked Israel to annex them.

After suffering more than 1,000 deaths at the hands of Sunni Muslims, Syria’s Alawites will not be reassured in the slightest by the appointment of a single Alawite to be a minister in a cabinet of 27 ministers. Only the punishment of the Sunni killers will begin to assuage their fright and allay their distrust of the transitional government headed by Al-Sharaa. As of now, a grand total of two Sunnis appear to have been arrested for murdering Alawites in Latakia. The Alawites remain terrified, and those who once served in the army are holding onto their weapons, preparing for a future war of survival, in their Latakia redoubt, against Sunni Muslims.