Syrian anchor takes cover from airstrike live on TV
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Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Syria's president has opened up a hornet's nest and it's tearing the country apart
For centuries an old, severed head helped hold Syria together. Pilgrims from across the Middle East journeyed to Damascus to venerate the skull buried beneath the storied eighth-century Umayyad mosque – a relic Christian and Muslims alike believe belongs to John the Baptist, beheaded to reward Salome for her sensuous dance before Herod Antipas. The site could scarcely be more apt for cross-community worship. Blending Corinthian columns, Byzantine mosaics and Islamic arches – in a building incorporating a Roman temple and a Christian church – few mosques anywhere are as inclusive. But harmony has been rare of late. In June, an Islamist gunman killed 25 worshippers at an Orthodox church in Damascus, opening fire before blowing himself up in the middle of a Sunday service. A month later, fighters from the new Syrian army stormed the home of Khalid Mezher, an evangelical pastor in southern Syria's Sweida region, murdering him, his parents, his siblings, their young children and even the family dog. Activists say the attackers were motivated less by Mr Mezher's religious beliefs than by sectarian animosity towards the Druze minority to which he belonged, hundreds of whom were slaughtered in clashes with Sunni Bedouin tribesmen. Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new president, dispatched troops to restore order, some of whom are accused of rounding up Druze and executing them. It is not the first time sectarian violence has shaken Syria since Mr Sharaa came to power nine months ago. In March, Sunni fighters descended on Syria's Mediterranean coast and massacred hundreds of Alawites, the minority sect of Bashar al-Assad, the dictator who was toppled in December. Euphoria initially greeted Assad's downfall, uniting communities. But minorities – Alawites, Christians, Druze, Kurds, Ismailis and Shias – now question whether a Syria dominated by its Sunni majority can hold together. To prevent disintegration, many say Mr Sharaa must shed his Jihadi past and become a national leader, rather than merely head of his own Sunni sect. 'After what happened in March, every Alawite is scared,' said Zaki, an IT technician in Tartous, an Alawite port city. 'We don't know when we will next be slaughtered — and we don't trust Sharaa to protect us. It feels like there's no place for Alawites in the new Syria.' Despite recent bloodbaths, Syria is no longer at war – for now. The Assad regime, which killed perhaps 200,000 civilians and tortured to death at least 15,000 more, is gone. The United States has led efforts to lift the sanctions that crippled Syria's economy. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have repaid its World Bank loans and pledged billions of pounds in investment. Turkey is helping rebuild the country. Minorities hold cabinet posts in the transitional government and an interim constitution promises inclusion. Yet as Syria comes under Sunni majority rule for the first time in half a century, sectarian tensions threaten these fragile gains. Many question whether a Sunni-dominated Syria can be both democratic and pluralistic, protecting, its minorities rather than subjugating them. The weight of history It may even be that the task facing Mr Sharaa is all but impossible, with some arguing that present-day Syria is doomed to failure by its Western imperial legacy that imprisoned the country within artificial borders, setting it up for failure from the outset. According to the romantic view, Greater Syria – encompassing present-day Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories – enjoyed a golden era under the Ottoman Empire, with its sects protected by the Sultan. But in 1916, Britain and France secretly divided the empire's Arab lands under the Sykes-Picot Agreement, giving France modern Syria and Lebanon, and Britain Palestine and Transjordan. 'For minorities it was a zero-sum game,' says Joshua Landis, director of the centre for Middle East studies at the university of Oklahoma. 'New national borders were drawn around people who didn't want to live together. 'In Lebanon, it was the Maronite Christians who got the lion's share of power; in Syria, it was the Alawites who were elevated, allowing them later to take power at the expense of the Sunni majority who were brutally repressed.' Syrian nationalist Adib al-Shishakli, who seized power in 1949, complained that 'Syria is the current official name for that country which lies within the artificial frontiers drawn up by imperialism'. Between independence from France in 1946 and 1970, when Hafez al-Assad – Bashar's father – seized power, Syria was ruled by 16 presidents and experienced ten military coups. Many doubted it would survive as a nation-state. Stability came under Hafez and, initially, Bashar al-Assad, but at enormous cost. They imposed order through violent repression and sectarian manipulation, making minorities dependent on them and leaving most Syrians deeply divided, according to Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute, a think tank in Washington. 'This is the hornet's nest that has been opened up now that Assad is gone,' he says. 'After 14 years of debilitating conflict and a very fragile transition, distrust runs deep across every ethnic, sectarian and political line.' The sectarian volcano That distrust has already erupted. In March, Sunni fighters – enraged by years of minority privilege and Assad's wartime brutality – mobilised en masse after pro-Assad insurgents staged attacks on government forces. Up to 200,000 armed Sunnis joined in, many driving across the country after hearing calls to jihad issued in mosques. In some villages, they filmed themselves forcing their victims to bark like dogs before shooting them dead. Hundreds of thousands of Alawites fled through corpse-strewn streets and charred towns into Lebanon, which had mostly sheltered Sunni refugees during the war. More than 1,400 people were killed, according to government figures. Initially Mr Sharaa, once an affiliate of both Islamic State (IS) and al Qaeda, praised the fighters. But he reversed course, calling for peace, ordering an investigation and giving Alawites posts in his government. He has since won the support of Donald Trump, the US president, who praised Mr Sharaa's toughness and good looks before lifting sanctions on Syria under the prodding of Sunni Arab states in the Gulf. Calm was restored, but with Syria awash in weapons and vigilantes bent on revenge, low violence persisted and then exploded again in Druze areas last month. 'I don't think Sharaa or the government want these massacres,' says Aaron Zelin of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank. 'But because it can't control everybody that has a weapon, these crises spiral into far greater levels of violence.' The new army is also clearly unstable. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Mr Sharaa's former militia, has given it a disciplined core, despite its jihadi roots. But other ex-militias, nominally absorbed into the military, act almost autonomously, committing atrocities and defying orders. They spearheaded last month's bloodshed, executing 182 people, including women and children. Bedouin gunmen joined from across Syria, turning vigilante revenge into another sectarian massacre. Druze and Alawite fighters have also been accused of killing civilians. Syria thus simmers like a volcano: a vengeful Sunni majority, fearful minorities resentful over lost privileges and a weak state unable to restrain rogue elements bent on destroying the country's fraying cohesion. An interim constitution adopted in March meant to reassure minorities instead deepened mistrust by requiring the president to be Muslim and making Islamic Sharia the primary source of law – alarming communities deemed apostate by hard-line Sunnis. 'Sunnis are in power now – and many of those in power are real Salafists in the Jihadist tradition,' said Mr Landis. 'Some in the security services regard Druze, Ismailis and Alawites as pagans and therefore guilty of the worst crime in Islam. 'So there are really two Syrias today: the 70 per cent who are Sunni Arabs and the rest. Sunnis are optimistic; minorities are terrified.' The International Crisis Group, a conflict-monitoring think tank in Brussels, warned last month that minorities are increasingly arming themselves for self-defence, fearing government forces will not protect them. 'The violence deepened a sense of alienation and existential dread among many Syrians,' it wrote. 'If these patterns continue, social relations, the Syrian state's stability and the transition to a post-Assad political order will all be in jeopardy.' Regional crossfire Regional powers are adding to the upheaval. Israel has launched airstrikes on Syrian forces, destroying part of the defence ministry in Damascus last month after intervening on behalf of Druze communities. Israel's motives are partly domestic: its own Druze population serves in the Israeli armed forces under a 'blood covenant' with the Jewish state and has asked it to protect their kinsmen across the border. Credit: @AJEnglish/X But its involvement risks deepening sectarian tensions. Israeli troops have seized parts of southern Syria, violating a 1974 disengagement deal brokered by Henry Kissinger. One notable Druze leader, Hikmat al-Hijri, has openly sought Israeli protection, but others fear being branded traitors and sparking further reprisals. Israel has also courted Kurds in Syria's north-east. For now, the main Kurdish militia, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), has struck a deal to integrate into the national army. Under pressure from Turkey, which recently ended a 40-year war with its own Kurdish rebels, the pact may hold. But spreading sectarian unrest threatens to unravel it, leaving Kurds – who, crucially, guard IS prison camps – wary of marginalisation in a Sunni-dominated Syria. 'There is a crisis of confidence brewing,' says a Kurdish official in the primarily SDF-held city of Qamishli. '[Sharaa] has to decide whether he wants to oppress or defend minorities. If he cannot defend all Syrians then Syria is heading for anarchy. It's his choice.' Can Syria hold? Syria's history has rarely been harmonious. Coups, dictatorship and civil war hardened sectarian lines. Yet the country has survived predicted collapse before – held together not by trust or unity, but by brute force. Analysts say Mr Sharaa faces a stark choice: continue that tradition by terrorising minorities into submission or attempt something no Syria leader has yet achieved – forging a genuinely inclusive national identity that transcends sect and ethnicity. Not everyone is convinced he will choose the latter. Mr Landis believes Mr Sharaa is more likely to subjugate minorities rather than share power with them. But others see reason for hope. 'Syria is going to be very unstable for years to come,' says Mr Lister of the Middle East Institute. 'But the ingredients to reunify the country are all in place. The transitional government is attempting to engage constructively with minority communities. 'Crucially, the US, the Europeans and the wider Middle East – except Israel – are united behind the idea that Syria's central government must control all its territory. That shared vision may be what holds the country together.' Whether Mr Sharaa can turn that vision into reality will decide more than Syria's borders. It will determine whether a country long defined by sectarian bloodshed can one day return to being the kind of place where Christians and Muslims kneel side by side before an ancient skull, believing, however improbably, that Syria belongs to all of them. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Solve the daily Crossword
12 hours ago
Fresh clashes break out in Syria as the interim government struggles to ease tensions
BEIRUT -- New outbreaks of violence overnight into Sunday rocked Syria at two distinct flashpoints, straining a fragile ceasefire and calling into question the ability of the transitional government to exert its authority across the whole country. In the north, government-affiliated fighters confronted Kurdish-led forces who control much of the region, while in the southern province of Sweida, they clashed with Druze armed groups. The outbreaks come at a time when Syria's interim authorities are trying to maintain a tense ceasefire in Sweida province after clashes with Druze factions last month, and to implement an agreement with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces that would reintegrate large swaths of northeastern Syria with the rest of the country. The Syrian government under interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has been struggling to consolidate control since he led a surprise insurgency that ousted former President Bashar Assad in December, ending the Assad family's decades-long autocratic rule. Political opponents and ethnic and religious minorities have been suspicious of Sharaa's de facto Islamist rule and cooperation with affiliated fighters that come from militant groups. State state television said clashes between government forces and militias belonging to the Druze religious minority rocked the southern province of Sweida on Saturday after Druze factions attacked Syrian security forces, killing at least one member. The state-run Alikhbaria channel cited an anonymous security official who said the ceasefire has been broken. The Defense Ministry has not issued any formal statement. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, said in addition to the member of the security forces killed, one Druze was killed and at least nine others were wounded in the clashes that took place in the in the western part of Sweida province. The Observatory said the clashes took place at the strategic Tal al-Hadeed heights that overlook Daraa province next door. State media says that aid convoys continue to enter Sweida city as a part of a tense truce after over a week of violent clashes in July between Druze militias and armed Bedouin clans backed by government forces. However, humanitarian conditions remain dire, and residents of Sweida have called for the road into the city to be fully opened, saying the aid that has come in is not enough. The clashes that displaced tens of thousands of people came after months of tensions between Damascus and Sweida. The fighting led to a series of targeted sectarian attacks against the Druze minority, who are now skeptical of peaceful coexistence. Druze militias retaliated against Bedouin communities who largely lived in western areas of Sweida province, displacing many to neighboring Daraa. Elsewhere, in the northern Aleppo province, government-affiliated fighters clashed with the SDF. The Defense Ministry said three civilians and four soldiers were wounded after the SDF launched a barrage of rockets near the city of Manbij 'in an irresponsible way and for unknown reasons." SDF spokesperson Farhad Shami on the other hand said the group was responding to shelling by 'undisciplined factions' within government forces on Deir Haffar, an eastern city in the same province. The eastern part of Aleppo province straddles areas controlled by the government and by the SDF. Though the two are slowly trying to implement a ceasefire and agreement that would integrate the areas under Damascus, tensions remain. 'The Ministry of Defense's attempts to distort facts and mislead public opinion do not contribute to security or stability,' Shami said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. In Quneitra province, in the south, the Israeli military announced it conducted another ground operation in the area that borders the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights. It said its troops questioned several suspects they accuse of involvement in weapons trafficking in the village of Hader, and raided four areas where they found weapons being trafficked. Since Assad's ouster, Israel has conducted numerous strikes and military operations in southern Syria, saying its forces are taking out militant groups that they suspect could harm Israelis and residents in the Golan Heights. Damascus has been critical of Israel's military activity, and the two sides have been trying to reach a security arrangement through U.S.-mediated talks. Syria has repeatedly said it does not intend to take military action against Israel. Those talks intensified after Israel backed the Druze in Sweida during the earlier clashes. Israel struck military personnel near the southern city and most notably launched an airstrike targeting the Defense Ministry headquarters in the heart of Damascus.
Newsweek
13 hours ago
- Newsweek
Five Years After the Beirut Port Explosion—Justice in the Courts Will Not Be Enough for Survivors
Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the interpretation of facts and data. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Lebanese have never seen accountability for any of the country's gravest crimes. Justice—when pursued at all—is politicized, obstructed, and often denied. Five years since the Beirut explosion, this legacy of impunity has become a national sin that cannot be forgiven. As Lebanon and the broader region push to recover from war and atrocities, justice must lead the rebuilding of statehood and the rule of law. Law Without Accountability—A History of Failed Practice For decades, Lebanon's most consequential crimes have gone unpunished. Thirty-five years after the 1982 assassination of President Bachir Gemayel, Syrian Socialist National Party (SSNP) operatives Nabil al-Alam and Habib Shartouni were sentenced to death in absentia. Under Syrian protection, the verdicts were never enforced, and both remain at large. No criminal trial followed the 1983 bombing of the United States Embassy by Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad arm; some victims' families could only pursue civil lawsuits against Iran in U.S. courts. The 1989 assassination of Lebanese President René Mouawad also never reached court. Citizens from across the country rushed to Beirut, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, to clear the rubble, sort through the wreckage, and find the missing. Citizens from across the country rushed to Beirut, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, to clear the rubble, sort through the wreckage, and find the missing. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan This cycle of unchecked crimes was challenged after the 2005 assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Lebanon pushed for the unprecedented United Nations-backed special tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Despite judicial innovation, 14 years of legal proceedings, and over $ 1 billion in funding (49 percent paid by Lebanon), the masterminds were never convicted. Only co-perpetrators Salim Ayyash, Hassan Merhi, and Hussein Oneissi were sentenced to five concurrent life terms. Hezbollah refused to surrender them, and Lebanon had no power to enforce the rulings. The subsequent assassinations and attempted political killings also never saw court. Political weaponization ensured that justice remained hostage to a system willing to destroy a country rather than establish and enforce criminal responsibility. Israeli Extrajudicial Enforcement—Impunity Expanded In this vacuum of accountability, Israel executed extrajudicial strikes in its war against Hezbollah. On July 30 and September 20, 2024, 1983 co-perpetrators Ibrahim Aqil (Hezbollah's Radwan Force commander and head of operations) and Fuad Shukr were killed by Israeli precision drone strikes in Haret Hreik, Southern Beirut. On November 9, Hariri assassination co-perpetrator Salim Ayyash was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Syria. By adopting a policy of assassinating assassins, Israel sought international legitimacy, and perhaps even the quiet approval of some Lebanese. The court of public opinion usurped the courts of law. But Israel's actions significantly undermined international law and further eroded Lebanese sovereignty and credibility. Lebanon lost its chance to set legal precedent against decades of heinous crimes. The Beirut explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital on Aug. 4, 2020, devastating homes, cultural sites, places of worship, and more. The Beirut explosion ripped through Lebanon's capital on Aug. 4, 2020, devastating homes, cultural sites, places of worship, and more. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan Israel is instead authoring a dangerous new rulebook, normalizing "might is right" as the region's arbiter of justice. Even with a president and government, Lebanon remains disempowered, stripped of agency and avenues for accountability. Beyond Lebanon, this threatens the broader Middle East, weakening international legal norms and inviting state and non-state actors to bypass rule-based governance. A Chance To Exit Lebanon's Judicial Purgatory Justice for the Beirut explosion must take a different path. In a recent meeting with the victims' families, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said, "From now on, justice will take its course, the responsible will be tried, and the innocent will be exonerated. ... We must uncover the whole truth and hold accountable those who caused this catastrophe." Yet, formidable obstacles persist. Judge Tarek Bitar's mandate is under threat, the general prosecutor is abusing power and obstructing the investigation, suspects have been released without trial, elected officials are still shielded from prosecution, judicial summons are routinely defied, critical evidence remains uncollected, and inaction continues to evade accountability. On Aug. 8, 2020, thousands rallied in Beirut, demanding justice after the port explosion and protesting government negligence. Security forces responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and pellet rounds, injuring over 700 protesters. On Aug. 8, 2020, thousands rallied in Beirut, demanding justice after the port explosion and protesting government negligence. Security forces responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and pellet rounds, injuring over 700 protesters. Photo courtesy of Rita Kabalan Without urgent, comprehensive reforms—lifting immunities, restoring full judicial independence, ensuring trial, and enforcing sentences—Lebanon's pursuit of justice remains pending in purgatory. But victims' families and survivors cannot wait for justice to only begin after Lebanon's state institutions are reclaimed and reformed. Unlike past assassinations, one of the world's largest non-nuclear explosions was not a case of targeted killings. It was an act of criminal negligence, culpable omission, and gross dereliction of duty—implicating some of the highest levels of the Lebanese state, Hezbollah, and their allies. Legal proceedings alone cannot deliver justice, accountability, and reparations. A credible path to justice requires that Hezbollah disarm, relinquish control over state institutions, and surrender their economic stranglehold. Today, Lebanon, more than ever, needs judicial innovation, state fortitude, and moral courage. The country has a rare chance to reclaim its sovereignty and define justice on terms set by survivors and citizens, and not by geopolitical and non-state agendas. The international community bears an immense responsibility to help Lebanon seize this moment. Only then can the Lebanese claim justice and Lebanon reclaim itself. Lynn Zovighian is a philanthropist, humanitarian diplomat, and founder of the Zovighian Public Office, partnering with communities facing genocide and crises in the Middle East and South Caucasus through research, culture, and diplomacy. She is also co-founder of the Zovighian Partnership. The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
