Mainstream Media Ignores Sectarian Killings In ‘Liberated’ Syria While Jolani Plays Nice For Cameras

Since the rapid collapse of the Assad government and the takeover of Damascus by US-designated terror group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) on December 8, Syrians by the hundreds or even thousands have been filmed in city streets celebrating, expressing hope for a new era.

But for every scene of hundreds gathered in a city square in front of Al Jazeera or CNN cameras, the reality is that there are many tens of thousands more families holed up in their homes, deeply fearful of venturing outside, with the more fortunate ones having stocked up on supplies just prior to Abu Mohammad al-Jolani’s army of mujahideen fighters entering the capital.

With the basically overnight and shock collapse of a state system earlier this month which had been in place for over a half-century, Syrians whether in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Latakia, or Damascus have no clue which armed factions might be patrolling the neighborhoods just around the corner from their apartments.

A big looming dark fear is the possibility of “reprisal” killings meted out by the jihadists against any community, especially along religious lines, merely perceived as ‘loyalist’ or at least which never came out openly against the Assad government. We and others have been documenting that this is already taking place.

Political alignment aside, all communities of the capital have historically been “Syria first”—that is, the common populace tends to frame identity foremost along nationalistic lines. The ideology of the conquerors, in their own words and patches/symbols on their tactical vests, are without doubt Takfirism, Salafism, and Wahhabism. This has been exhaustively documented over many, many years of the tragic proxy war in Syria – yet now suddenly Western leaders and media lackeys have ‘forgotten’ it all. Non-Sunni Muslims are especially being targeted, for nothing else other than religion and identity

Mainstream media cameras in Damascus have been carefully trying to hide or at least downplay this reality. They present the euphoria of those few on the streets praising the ‘revolution’ and downfall of Assad while ignoring the many more who are bracing for a sectarian bloodbath at the hands of the jihadists.

American correspondents have even been caught ‘coaching’ bearded militants waring ISIS patches on how to improve their image in front of an international audience… Watch: Syrian ‘Moderate Rebel’ Removes ISIS Patch At Prompting Of American Journalist.

HTS goons open fire on demonstrators protesting extrajudicial revenge killings and the destruction of Alawite shrines just days after Jolani received friendly delegations of US and UK diplomats and journos pic.twitter.com/nVWA49wNgK

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 25, 2024

This fear of being targeted for ethno-religious genocide is perhaps greatest among Christians, Alawites, and Druze. Dread or anxiety at what tomorrow will bring is also a reality among some business-oriented Sunnis of Aleppo and Damascus.

Major urban centers in Syria had always had a definite secular and pluralist public vibe—with liquor stores and nightclubs a common sight in central areas—and women in the Islamic veil a little bit more of a rarity. Some liquor stores especially in Aleppo and the north have already been smashed and destroyed.

Now, for the first time in Syria’s modern history, women who dare to venture out in the city center of Damascus are being asked their sectarian affiliation: Are you Sunni, Shia, Christian, Druze? Or else they are being told to put on the Islamic veil, by bearded militants from outside cities or villages, or worse who are from other countries. Latakia, as well as parts of the countryside, are already witnessing armed jihadist gangs conducting summary executions.

Syria: “When we build the Islamic caliphate, Christians will pay Jizya under Islamic Sharia.” – Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, HTS Islamist leader and new ruler of Syria

Forcing Christians to become second-class citizens and be extorted through a protection tax is not moderate. pic.twitter.com/BGvnvM8w3C

— Christian Emergency Alliance (@ChristianEmerg1) December 17, 2024

Gruesome videos (too horrific to link to) are filling up social media platforms like X and Telegram, in some instances with unidentified victims being dragged to death behind vehicles.

Others show HTS-linked factions or else foreign jihadist groups cleansing entire villages of ‘Nusayris’—a derogatory term for Alawites, which is ethno-religious background of the Assad family. Jolani’s officials have recently tried to urge for militants to not film their atrocities or upload them to the internet.

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Rania Khalek is an independent journalist who has long reported from the region. Her contacts across Syria are telling her that the jihadists are killing civilians in various places far away from CNN or Al-Jazeera cameras. Below is a report she posted to X [emphasis ZH]…

Some concerning developments in Syria that were being largely ignored or dismissed until horrific videos of sectarian violence and executions began emerging in recent days…

In some mixed Syrian towns and villages as well as minority neighborhoods around Homs, Hama and on the coast, security was breaking down and people felt scared to speak about it, according to multiple contacts. The Hama-Homs highway had decapitated bodies strewn about, according to one contact. He wanted to take pictures of the bodies on the highway but he didn’t dare out of fear.

At one roadblock they forced him to open his phone and they went through it. He said they spoke Arabic but it was a hybrid fusha accent he could barely understand. A contact reported being stopped by HTS at a barricade. He then had to wait for his business partner who is Sunni to come and vouch for him. Not a good sign.

Flyers have been disbursed in multiple areas informing women how they should dress and act. Minorities in mixed villages have been subjected to robberies, killings, kidnappings, etc. Some have responded by organizing armed men to protect their neighborhoods from raids. This is not everyone’s experience of course. But these sorts of incidents were increasing. And they reached a fever pitch after the video of the destruction of an Alawite shrine surfaced.

While the random violence and score settling speaks to the chaos that comes with a regime change like this, the sectarian violence is much more concerning. There are militias HTS either has no control over because they’re spread too thin or they don’t care to stop them. Some expressed that they suspect HTS is secretly calling the shots and then playing dumb.

Whatever the case, there is deep distrust of HTS in many minority communities due to their past violence combined with recent events. “I don’t trust them at all, the fact that they are so insistent on collecting guns from people is so worrying, they even want licensed guns, and this is actually scary. They are always trying to appear as nice people talking about peace, but yet every day someone gets killed and they do nothing about it,” said one contact in Latakia.

The sectarian violence is reminiscent of post 2011 days when the regime would be kicked out of an area and extremist militias would quickly take over and then chaos and sectarian violence would ensue. The pro-HTS side is framing any pushback or measure of self defense in vulnerable communities as Iranian-provoked or Assadist, which isn’t helpful and exacerbates the sectarianism. As the gun battles heat up, it’s hard to ignore the signs of potential civil unrest to come with violent zones of state collapse. I hope stability wins the day but it doesn’t look good.