After a weekend of fighting between the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) government and Alawite militias in northwestern Syria, and the subsequent massacres of Alawite civilians that left well over 1,000 people dead, Israel is expressing newfound outrage against the HTS.
Israel Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar is taking credit for predicting acts of revenge by the HTS, condemning them as “pure evil” because of the barbaric murder of civilians, and demanded the global community unite to deny Syria’s government any legitimacy, and further denounce their killings.
Defense Minister Israel Katz offered his own take earlier in the weekend, calling HTS leader Ahmed Sharaa (formerly known as Abu Mohammad al-Jolani) an “al-Qaeda terrorist.” He further condemned early reports of killings as horrifying acts, and vowed Israel would defend itself militarily from the HTS.
Absent in the Israeli condemnations is that Israel is actively invading southern Syria right now, planning a long-term occupation and taking an ever-growing portion of the Daraa and Quneitra Govenrorates.
Israel was relatively hostile to the Alawites in Syria for years at any rate, owing to their ideological ties to Shia Islam and the notion that they made up part of a “Shia crescent” across the Middle East. Israel also carried out airstrikes against the exact same region where the HTS massacres were carried out just days before that situation began. Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria since the HTS took power in December.
The takeover of Syria by the Sunni Islamist HTS wasn’t always seen as a problem for Israel, notably Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took credit for the ouster of President Assad. Israel had been in indirect contract with the HTS while they were in the process of seizing power in Syria and provided weapons to the group that ultimately became the HTS as far back as 2019.
The HTS also didn’t see Israel as a potential foe. They were openly courting Israel during the weeks leading up to seizing Damascus, saying they were ready for a peace deal the moment they took power, and offered Israel embassies in both Damascus and Beirut.
Instead, Israel invaded Syria almost immediately after Assad was gone, and while the HTS has not resisted the invasion or occupation, the talks of peace and embassies have quieted down substantially in recent weeks.
Al-Sharaa responded to this weekend’s Israeli condemnations quickly with a statement of his own, noting that Israelis are the last ones who should be bringing up wholesale slaughter of civilians and citing the enormous death toll in the ongoing Israeli war in the Gaza Strip.
