#sweida

by Andrew Fox

Israel at least seems to understand what kind of regime it is dealing with in Syria. The contrast with the UK here could hardly be more stark. Barely two weeks before the Sweida massacre, UK foreign secretary David Lammy was in Damascus, shaking hands with President Sharaa and pledging £94.5million in aid to support Syria’s ‘long-term recovery’. With great fanfare, the UK re-established diplomatic ties with Syria after 14 years. Lammy spoke of ‘renewed hope’ and an ‘inclusive and representative’ transition.

Washington has been equally eager to embrace Syria’s post-Assad regime. US president Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Syria in June, and even praised Sharaa as an ‘attractive, tough guy’. He also floated the idea of Syria joining an expanded Abraham Accords peace framework, therefore recognising Israel. The logic was simple: bring Syria in from the cold, peel it away from Iran’s orbit, and declare the 14-year civil war resolved.

That aspiration is now in tatters. The massacres of Druze and Alawites cast grave doubt on the new Syrian government’s credibility and intentions. For all the talk of a fresh start, Syria’s interim rulers have shown a grim continuity with the past: intolerance of dissent, reliance on sectarian militias and a propensity for violence. The West’s willingness to overlook HTS’s jihadist pedigree in exchange for a quick diplomatic win now looks not just cynical, but also dangerously naïve.

Sharaa’s cabinet is literally teeming with individuals and factions under terrorism and human-rights sanctions. Did London and Washington really believe such actors would morph overnight into guarantors of pluralism and human rights? With scattered revenge killings of regime loyalists, crackdowns on minority communities, early signs of trouble were already there, but many Western policymakers and media outlets downplayed them. The result is that Western nations are now awkwardly complicit. British aid and American rapprochement have effectively helped legitimise a government whose associates have now butchered over a thousand men, women and children based on their sect. How will these same leaders credibly condemn atrocities elsewhere when they stayed mum on Syria’s? It is a staggering moral failure.

These events have sobering implications. Regionally, Syria’s ‘new dawn’ is revealing itself as just another nightmare. And far from unifying the country, Sharaa’s reliance on hard-line Islamist forces is deepening its fractures. The Druze, long wary of both Assad and Sunni extremism, may now conclude that they have no place in the new Syria, potentially sparking an exodus or armed self-defence. The Alawites, who already feel betrayed and endangered, could turn to desperate measures, perhaps even inviting foreign protection or forming insurgencies. Sectarian bloodshed on this scale risks reigniting a cycle of vengeance that could unravel the fragile peace achieved. In Lebanon next door, where Druze and Alawite communities also exist, the spillover of sectarian tensions is an ominous possibility. Israel’s direct strikes on Damascus also mark a dangerous escalation, and serve as a reminder that Syria’s war can at any moment ignite regional conflagration.

On one hand I'm watching as millions are being starved in Gaza. 85% of the population are facing extreme consequences directly as a result of the man-made famine and forced starvation by Israel. And no one who has the power to help is doing anything. Egypt still refuses to open the Rafah border. There are enough trucks to feed all of Gaza waiting just outside, ready to go in, but no one is letting them enter. We're watching as a million children are on the brink of death and the world watches silently, as everyone goes on with their day.

From Khalifa Saleh Khalifa II (Israeli Druze)

Condolences letter from the spiritual leader of Druze Mountain in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hajri.

English translation by Khalifa Saleh Khalifa II (og)

The spiritual leader of the Druze Unitarian Muslims, His Eminence Sheikh Abu Salman Hikmat Al-Hajri, strongly condemns the heinous crime that targeted innocent people and children in the peaceful village of Majdal Shams through a statement published recently, which reads: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful His Eminence Sheikh Hikmat Salman Al-Hajri The Spiritual Presidency of the Druze Unitarian Muslims We strongly condemn the heinous crime that targeted innocent people and children in the peaceful village of Majdal Shams. We call upon all international bodies to confirm the pursuit of the criminal party, with a clear vision of the perpetrator known to all. We emphasize the demand for their punishment through international law for what their sinful hands have done, not accepting any justification, because our children are not training grounds nor testing sites, and our skies are not battlefields for anyone, nor are they for achieving anyone's goals through the blood of our children. It is inconceivable to imagine a mistake of this atrocity and these characteristics. Condolences to the families of the innocent victims from our beloved ones. We, in turn, accept condolences for them, and we demand the punishment of the perpetrators and just retribution from them. To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. Saturday 27/7/2024 #Sweida_Media_Center