Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s warning of a terrorist takeover in Syria seems to be coming true amid stories that al Qaeda-linked terror forces aligned with Syria’s interim new president—a former al Qaeda terrorist—are being accused of massacring Alawites in addition to members of the nation’s dwindling Christian neighborhood.
Syrian safety forces and affiliated gunmen have killed greater than 340 civilians, the overwhelming majority of them from the Alawite minority, over the past two days, Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights instructed Reuters on Saturday.
At Gabbard’s Senate confirmation hearing she stated “I’ve no love for Assad or any dictator. I simply hate al-Qaeda. I hate that our leaders cozy as much as Islamist extremists, calling them “rebels”, as Jake Sullivan stated to Hillary Clinton, “al Qaeda is on our facet in Syria.” Syria is now managed by al-Qaeda offshoot HTS, led by an Islamist Jihadist who danced within the streets on 9/11, and who was liable for the killing of many American troopers.”
An Alawite girl from the area of Al-Ghab plain, the place there’s a majority Alawite inhabitants, instructed Fox Information Digital that the forces stated, “Alawites are pigs, and so they should execute all of them and the babies earlier than the aged folks.”
Tulsi Gabbard, President Donald Trump’s option to be the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, arrives to look earlier than the Senate Intelligence Committee for her affirmation listening to on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/John McDonnell) (AP)
The witness spoke on the situation of anonymity for concern of reprisal from the authorities. She stated that two militias had entered her home on Thursday and searched her residence for weapons. One of many members “put a gun to my head and requested for all my cash. They took all the cash and took cash from our neighbors.”
She confirmed stories that the Islamist forces murdered the outstanding Alawite 86-year-old cleric Shaaban Mansour and his son Hussein Shaaban. Reuters reported that Mansour was killed on Friday along with his son within the village of Sahlab in western Syria. Residents there accused fighters aligned with Damascus of killing them.
A large Christian inhabitants residing within the space has additionally reportedly been below assault. Greco-Levantines Worldwide media reported {that a} younger household, together with their toddler youngster, was killed on Friday. A father and son, Tony and Fadi Petrus, have been additionally executed by Islamists.
The witness stated that in different Alawite cities—Nahr al-Bared and Deir Shamil—the Islamist militias “are coming into homes and killing folks and stealing every little thing. They’re masking their faces.”
“I really feel there isn’t a security. There isn’t a homeland. There’s nowhere to flee to, and nobody to defend us. I really feel concern and horrifying emotions.”
The witness added that the Islamists are Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and different such teams affiliated with HTS, who stormed her area. She stated HTS terrorists have been Syrian Arabs, due to their spoken Arabic.
Ahmed al-Sharaa and his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, overthrew former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December (Picture by Omar Haj Kadour/AFP through Getty Photographs)
Ahmed al-Sharaa and his group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a U.S.-designated Sunni terrorist group, toppled the former Syrian President Bashar Assad in December. Assad is a member of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. The Alawites comprise roughly 10% of the Syrian inhabitants.
The Alawite supply instructed Fox Information Digital that the neighborhood is searching for assist from the U.S., noting that the Islamists “wish to kill all of us. They don’t need us in Syria. We now have to flee Syria. They’re searching for revenge from the previous regime. I’m asking for cover and to stay in dignity, as a result of we might be killed at any second.”
One Alawite, who requested to stay nameless, and who lives in Europe and is in fixed contact together with her neighborhood in Syria, claimed that within the coastal area and Alawite, greater than 4,000 persons are estimated to have been killed. She claimed to have obtained lists of individuals from Alawites who’ve documented the mass homicide.
The Syrian military sends reinforcements, together with tanks, armored automobiles and rocket launchers, to Latakia and Tartus as search operations in opposition to the ousted regime forces broaden following an assault on safety forces in Latakia province of Syria on March 7, 2025. (Izettin Kasim/Anadolu through Getty Photographs)
She and her group wrote on Telegram that al-Sharaa’s “fighters have unleashed a wave of terror in opposition to civilians in Syria’s coastal cities. Reviews from Alawite neighborhood sources point out tons of of casualties, with Christians also among the victims.”
In his first feedback on the violence, interim President al-Sharaa stated that authorities forces would pursue “remnants” of the ousted Bashar Assad authorities.
UNCOVERING THE ATROCITIES OF THE ASSAD REGIME AT ITS ‘DEATH FACTORY’ ON THE HILL
Individuals wave weapons within the air as they collect to rejoice the autumn of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Sq. on Dec. 8 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Photographs)
“We are going to proceed to pursue the remnants of the fallen regime. . . . We are going to convey them to a good courtroom, and we are going to proceed to limit weapons to the state, and no unfastened weapons will stay in Syria,” Sharaa added in a pre-recorded speech.
The U.N. Secretary-Common António Guterres, European politicians and diplomats from the previous Biden administration have sought to woo Sharaa with sanctions reduction and diplomatic relations since December. Critics argue {that a} former Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorist, Sharra, can’t merely sport a go well with and fake he has deserted his terrorist ideology and strategies.
Simply two days earlier than the slaughter of Alawites, Guterres met with Sharaa on Tuesday in Cairo the place they discussed views a few new course for Syria.
Whereas an official assertion has but to come back from the U.N. chief, his particular envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, stated he was “deeply involved” by the stories of killings.
A bunch of Alawite clerics, the Alawite Islamic Council, blamed the violence on the federal government, saying that fighters had been despatched to the coast “with the pretext of (combating) ‘regime remnants,’ to terrorize and kill Syrians.” It referred to as for the area to be put below U.N. safety.
Syrian authorities stated the violence started when remnants loyal to Assad launched a lethal and well-planned assault on their forces on Thursday.
The violence has shaken Sharaa’s efforts to consolidate management as his administration struggles to get U.S. sanctions lifted and grapples with wider safety challenges, notably within the southwest, the place Israel has stated it is going to stop Damascus from deploying forces.
The violence spiraled on Thursday when the authorities stated teams of Assad-aligned militias had focused safety patrols and checkpoints within the Jableh space and surrounding countryside, earlier than spreading.
ISRAEL DEPLOYS PARATROOPERS TO SYRIA IN ‘DEFENSE ACTIVITIES’ AFTER FALL OF ASSAD
Moussa al-Omar, a Syrian media determine near the nation’s new management, instructed Reuters that tens of 1000’s of fighters in Syria’s newly constituted safety forces had been deployed to the coast within the operation and that order had been largely restored as of Friday night time.
He stated the crackdown was “a message to anybody within the south or east of Syria that the state . . . is able to a army decision at any time, even because it seeks peaceable options.”
Alawite activists say their neighborhood has been subjected to violence and assaults, significantly in rural Homs and Latakia, since Assad was overthrown in December after many years of repressive household rule and civil warfare.
Saudi Arabia condemned “crimes being undertaken by outlaw teams” in Syria and their focusing on of safety forces.
Deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad seen arriving in Jeddah, to attend the Arab League summit the next day in Saudi Arabia, Could 18, 2023. Assad is in now residing in exile in Russia. SANA/Handout through Reuters
Turkey, an in depth ally of Syria’s new authorities, additionally acknowledged its assist for Damascus, saying, “The strain in and round Latakia, in addition to the focusing on of safety forces, may undermine the efforts to steer Syria into the longer term in unity and solidarity.”
Israel’s Protection Minister Israel Katz blasted Syria’s Islamist rulers on Friday for his or her marketing campaign to smash a nascent insurgency by fighters from ousted President Assad’s Alawite group.
“[Abu Mohammed] al-Julani switched his gown for a go well with and introduced a average face,” Katz stated in an announcement on X, utilizing the nom de guerre of Ahmed al-Sharaa. “Now he’s taken off the masks and uncovered his true face: A jihadist terrorist of the al-Qaeda college who’s committing horrifying acts in opposition to a civilian inhabitants.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Katz added, “Israel will defend itself in opposition to any risk from Syria. We are going to stay within the safety zones and Mount Hermon and defend the communities of the Golan and Galilee. We are going to be sure that southern Syria stays demilitarized and freed from threats, and we are going to defend the native Druze inhabitants—anybody who harms them will face our response.”
The Syrian Alawite supply in Europe instructed Fox Information Digital that the Alawites need Israel to guard them like Israel’s offer of aid to the Syrian Druze population, who’re additionally being focused by the Islamist authorities in Damascus.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Source link