Syria’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)-led government and its role in the massacre of well over a thousand civilians, mostly Alawites, in the northwest earlier this month continues to loom large not just internally but in Syria’s relationship with the international community.
Most of the Sunni Arab states have expressed relative support for the HTS during this crisis, though there have been calls for sanctions from elsewhere. Neighboring Iraq has been trying to stay neutral, but is facing growing opposition to that from the United Tribal Council of Iraq and Basra.
The Tribal Council rarely makes public statements in opposition to government policy, but they did late Tuesday, calling for the government to organize the creation of a group of volunteer fighters to go to Syria and resist the HTS-run Syrian Army.
The council statement cites the growing regional instability caused by the HTS and cites the massacres as a justification for such a measure.
HTS was originally al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), a mortal enemy of the Iraqi government, though since they seized power in Syria in December, Iraq has sought to avoid getting directly involved in that situation. Syrian FM Assad al-Shaibani, one of the founding members of HTS, had an official visit to Iraq only last week to emphasize the need for cooperation.
Iraq doesn’t have a meaningful Alawite community (unlike Syria where they represent about 10% of the population). Alawite ideology has its origin in Shia Islam, however, so the largely Shi’ite Iraqis may feel closer to them than the Sunni Islamist HTS.
Reflecting Iraq’s outrage at what happened in Syria, Iraq’s Higher Education Ministry fired a Sunni lecturer at a state-run university for social media posts expressing delight at the plight of the Alawites declaring the “time for revenge has come.” The ministry said this violates the “duties of his position.”
The fighting in Syria began with Alawite militias attacking an HTS checkpoint in Jableh. The defense and interior ministries deployed troops to the area, defeating the militias but then carrying out wholesale massacres of Alawite civilians in revenge attacks. Some Syrian Christians were also reportedly targeted.
Videos were posted to the Internet by groups participating in the massacre. Some included summary executions of civilians dragged from their shops, while others showed gunmen singing “ethnic cleansing, ethnic cleansing” in the streets of Alawite neighborhoods.
The mass killing centered on Latakia and Tartus Governorates, where most of the Alawites live. Yet more incidents were reported in neighboring Homs and Hama Governorates though, and even after the HTS government declared the situation “over,” killings continued to be reported.
