Clashes were reported in the western part of Syria’s Homs Governorate as troops loyal to the new Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government attacked the Shi’ite majority village of Ghawr al-Gharbiyah. At least six people were killed.
The troops were backed by multiple tanks, and in addition to the government’s own forces, paramilitaries loyal to HTS also participated. The government claimed through the state-run SANA news agency that the offensive was meant to target remnants of an unnamed Alawite militia loyal to the former Assad government.
Details are still emerging, but reports are that only two of the slain were “armed individuals,” conceivably members of the alleged militia. The other four were civilians captured and summarily executed by the fighters backing the HTS raid.
Though the HTS promised inclusivity in their new government, they are also closely linked historically and ideologically with al-Qaeda, so their general hostility toward Shi’ites in general, and Alawites in particular, comes as no surprise.
Since the regime change, HTS has set up checkpoints in Alawite neighborhoods in much of the country, and conducted multiple arrest raids, rounding up people nominally linked to the previous government. Former President Assad’s family was Alawite, though Alawites only make up about 10% of Syria’s population. The raids have resulted in multiple disappearances in those neighborhoods.
Though Alawites note that they were far from immune to the brutality of the former Assad government, they are plainly the primary target for the brutality of the new Sunni Islamist government. Last week it was estimated that around 150 Alawites have been killed in just the past month.
