March 9, 2025 (EIRNS)—Tensions between the Syrian government and minority factions have escalated in recent days, and have led to large-scale massacres of civilians. Reports vary, but this is a snapshot of what is known so far.
Violence began on Thursday, March 6, in the coastal village of Latakia, where gunmen attacked a Syrian police patrol, killing 13. Tensions had been mounting in the region between the terrorist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) regime of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, and remnants of former President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite sect. Another ambush in the nearby town of Jableh killed at least 16 Assad loyalists and violence also occurred in Tartus; these towns are in the northwest coast of Syria and are about 100 miles north-northwest of Damascus. HTS is an off-shoot of Al Qaeda, but was conveniently allowed to flourish over the last decade as part of the U.S. effort to oust Assad.
The state Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that large reinforcements were being sent to the coastal region to get the situation under control, but instead, violence escalated against the minority populations.
The Syrian Observatory said helicopter gunships took part in attacking Alawite gunmen in Jableh and nearby areas. It added that fighters loyal to former Syrian army Major Gen. Suheil al-Hassan, whose unit was known as the Tiger Forces, took part in the attacks against security forces; Hassan is an Alawite, and was an ally of Assad. His current whereabouts are unconfirmed.
This has resulted in revenge killings by the HTS forces—figures range from several hundred to thousands, including women and children, especially Alawites, Christians and other minorities. Various news agencies report that civilians are being gunned down in cold blood.
Former Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras took to X to blast the Western nations for cozying up to these barbaric forces, which he claimed are run by the Turkish regime:
“What is happening in Syria is neo-Ottoman-inspired and is being implemented by the terrorists of Ahmed al-Sarah [sic], who did not change because he wore a tie.…
“However, the EU and the West ought to know that when you replace evil with the evil, the authoritarian leader with a leading member of al-Qaeda, acting on Erdogan’s and Fidan’s Turkey, then you inevitably lead to massacres of thousands of civilians and scenes of barbarism that humanity cannot bear in the 21st century.”
He called on the EU to immediately condemn the massacres, and to again impose sanctions against the al-Sharaa regime.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement in defense of the ethnic minorities in Syria. “The United States condemns the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days. The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families. Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”
Some reports say that al-Sharaa has appealed to the population for calm and restraint; however, showing his true colors, “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani has instructed militants to stop recording their acts of violence, in a clear effort to control the narrative and minimize the damage to his public image,” reported DD_Geopolitics on its X account, referring to al-Sharaa’s nom de guerre.
