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“alawites to the grave; christians to beirut”.

— war slogan of anti-assad militants

by daniel kovalik

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as this article was written, syria experienced the worst days of violence since hay’at tahrir al-sham (hts)—formerly the al-nusra front of al-qaeda—took power from president bashar al-assad.

friday, march 7, 2025, is the date it may be said a genocide began in earnest in syria. reports published on social media and accompanied by gruesome videos—filmed by the killers themselves—indicate hundreds, if not thousands, of syrians (mostly alawites, but also christians) were killed in sectarian violence. according to witnesses interviewed by the grayzone, “most of the perpetrators were foreign militants; uyghurs, chechens and uzbeks affiliated with hts, and only a small percentage

were syrians. following the downfall of assad, the hts-led government absorbed foreign jihadists into its military and appointed some to senior roles.”in the early hours of monday, march 9, 2025, an alawite friend in damascus sent me this message after not responding to a text the night before: “dear dan. i’m sorry. was broken. when [i] called a friend’s phone in latakia. to be answered by a jihadist. telling me that he killed her. offering me the same fate of my friend.

i am sorry i didn’t reply to your call. i think i had a panic attack. breathing seems very hard now.” my friend asked if i thought the jihadist was lying or whether her friend could still be alive. i said i prayed she was alive. before noon, my friend wrote again, enclosing a photo of her friend, dead on the floor of her home, next to another dead woman. they were shot at close range. the accompanying message read: “she’s gone dan. that’s her in the pink pajamas. i just had some hope.

her name was nagham. i hope she will be in a better place than syria.” greetings,

i am an alawite girl from the syrian coast, a 26-year-old pharmacist. i am writing this letter in secrecy to protect my life and the lives of my family.

i was deeply pleased to learn that you have been appointed as an adviser to the alawite association in the united states, hoping that you might help put an end to the systematic genocide aimed at the ethnic cleansing of the alawites.

mr. kovalik, i have witnessed firsthand what has happened. jihadi gangs, along with hay’at tahrir al-sham, stormed the coastal region, massacring elderly people, children, women and unarmed young men. they burned homes, livelihoods and everything that sustained our existence. i now live with my family in a remote village—six days without electricity or water. my friends in other villages are hiding in

the forests with their families, despite the cold weather and the lack of food and milk for their children.all of this has happened in just a few days…

and beyond these recent events, over the past three months, 9,000 young men who were in the syrian army were arrested after surrendering their weapons under guarantees of safety. we have no information about them or their fate. my own 23-year-old brother is among them—i have not heard anything about him for three months.

after that, thousands of other young alawite men were also detained. we have been dismissed from our jobs, while kidnappings, killings, and forced displacements continue. i am hoping for help to stop this. i am hoping to see my kidnapped brother again or at least to learn something about his fate. i am hoping to return to my job and pursue the dreams that are being mercilessly destroyed. i apologize for the length of my letter, but our hearts are weary, and we place great hope in you.

thank you. she sent me grisly videos, which the killers had posted on social media: there are many more, but my heart can’t take it anymore. please, help us. they want to exterminate the alawites, that’s what they’re saying. we are now fleeing in the forests. please, i’m sending this to you. if they find out, they will kill me and my family. please, we want peace. i want to see my kidnapped brother. i want to live in safety with my friends.

we are not remnants of the regime. the forests, however, were not safe as hts forces, in an effort to kill those fleeing, burned entire woods to cut off escape. at the time of writing, my new pen pal was alive while there is scant reporting on the massacres in the western press, the greek city times reported: the syrian network for human rights (snhr) said on friday that more than 225 people have been killed since thursday. however

, this is believed to be a gross underreporting, with activists on the ground, such as coast youth forum, believing the death toll could be as high as 1,800…syria’s new regime, led by so-called transitional president ahmad al-sharaa, has for months been massacring the alawite minority, as well as christians, under the guise of eliminating remnants of the former assad dictatorship… the latest massacres mark a sharp escalation though, with disturbing videos seen by greek city

times showing the execution of civilians, women, children and the elderly. . . one video shows the turkish-backed jihadists desecrating a christian icon in tartus. the militant says, “our guardian is allah, and you have no guardian,” accusing christians of idol worship. the number of those murdered in what is clearly a genocidal campaign appears higher than the official figures. greek european union minister

nikolas farantouris, who spent two days in damascus during the weekend of violence, reported: reliable data indicate 7,000 christians and alawites slaughtered and unprecedented atrocities against civilians…communities with a millennial presence in this region are at risk of extinction. the new islamic regime is leading syria into an islamic state and is claiming that it cannot control the paramilitaries, and the gangs associated with them who attack innocent civilians.

attacks on innocent civilians, including women and children. homes have been violated, their sanctity disregarded, and properties looted—scenes that starkly reflect the immense suffering endured by the syrian people. n recent days, syria has witnessed a dangerous escalation of violence, brutality, and killings, resulting in attacks on innocent civilians, including women and children. homes have been

violated, their sanctity disregarded, and properties looted—scenes that starkly reflect the immense suffering endured by the syrian people. the christian churches, while strongly condemning any act that threatens civil peace, denounce and condemn the massacres targeting innocent civilians, and call for an immediate end to these horrific act

surprisingly, the u.s. department of state published a statement on march 9 which accurately described the violence and stated it condemns the killers and, “the united states stands with syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its christian, druze, alawite and kurdish communities…”despite this condemnation, the u.s. and its military—which continues to occupy one-third of syria— continues to collaborate with hts leaders

and the u.s. military has been working behind the scenes to negotiate a deal between hts and various militia forces in order to unify the country under hts rule. this, despite the fact that hts and its leader al-jolani himself, continue to remain on the u.s. terrorism list. for its part, the european union (eu) released a statement that was indicative of most of the western coverage of events: “the european

union strongly condemns the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of syria and all violence against civilians.” unsurprisingly, after the weekend killing spree, al-jolani was invited to brussels.to its credit, the european conservative condemned the invitation:the european commission, led by ursula von der leyen, has invited the interim syrian

government to brussels for a donor conference. this decision—designed to promote investment in the country to secure strategic resources—comes just days after the massacre of thousands of civilians from ethnic and religious minorities at the hands of the army and militias affiliated with the islamist terror group hayat tahrir al-sham (hts).despite the severity of these events, the european union

the associated press (ap), which is representative of western coverage of these massacres, was late in reporting on them and, when it did, attempted to write them off as “clashes between syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted president bashar assad…”

but, as always, the devil is in the details and the details provided in the ap report belie the claims of “clashes” between armed groups. thus, as the ap explained in its deceptively titled report, “2 days of

clashes and revenge killings in syria leave more than 1,000 people dead, revenge killings that started friday by sunni muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of assad’s minority alawite sect are a major blow to hayat tahrir al-sham, the faction that led the overthrow of the former government. alawites made up a large part of assad’s support base for decades.

residents of alawite villages and towns spoke to the associated press about killings during which gunmen shot alawites, the majority of them men, in the streets or at the gates of their homes. many homes of alawites were looted and then set on fire in different areas, two residents of syria’s coastal region told the ap from their hideouts. there is no evidence of “clashes” here; just wanton murder and mayhem.

in addition, many women were killed, proven by numerous photos of the victims on social media. apparently, these deaths were not convenient to ap’s narrative. meanwhile, the ap description of violence in one coastal town paints the picture of unarmed civilians being gunned down: residents of baniyas, one of the towns worst hit by the violence, said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them. one

resident said that the gunmen prevented residents for hours from removing the bodies of five of their neighbors killed friday at close range. ali sheha, a 57-year-old resident of baniyas who fled with his family and neighbors hours after the violence broke out friday, said that at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues in one neighborhood of baniyas where alawites lived, were killed, some of them in their shops, or in their homes.

where are the alleged “clashes”? the violence perpetrated by hts militias was so grisly and shocking that some of its own members denounced it: muhammad abu obaidah, a fighter from hts, speaks out with tears in his eyes, condemning the brutal massacres committed in baniyas and jableh. “did our religion command us to do this? were the prophet’s teachings like this? forcing people from their homes and executing them in cold blood?”