Syria’s Jihadist President Calls For Peace As His Forces Slaughter Political And Ethnic Minorities

Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa called for “national unity and domestic peace” after militants aligned with the president, brutally slaughtering hundreds of minorities on Syria’s coastal areas.

“We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace; we can live together,” Sharaa said on Sunday during a speech broadcast from a mosque near his childhood neighborhood in Damascus.

Al-Sharaa said that Syria has the “characteristics for survival” and what is “currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges.”

The Syrian leader also announced the launch of a “fact-finding committee” into the murders and said “anyone involved in civilian bloodshed” would be held accountable.

The fighting began on Thursday after members of the Alawite minority — a Shia-offshoot aligned with deposed former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad — launched attacks on the new regime’s security forces at checkpoints.

Assad was toppled by al-Shaara and his U.S.-designated terrorist organization, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), in December. Once affiliated with Al-Qaeda and ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Shaara had a $10 million FBI bounty for almost a decade before being lifted in 2024.

In retaliation, Sharaa-aligned fighters launched brutal revenge killings, some of which were recorded and posted online. According to the United Kingdom-based watchdog, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), women and children were killed and residents of the predominantly Alawite neighborhood of al-Ramlah in the coastal city of Jabalah reported homes being burned and looted.

At least 745 Alawite civilians have been killed in the Syrian port cities of Latakia and Tartous, according to SOHR. An additional 300 members of government security forces and 148 Assad-aligned militants were reportedly killed in the clashes as well.

Syrian authorities blamed the executions on unruly militias who came to help the security forces, according to the Times of Israel. Syrian Kurdish armed groups blamed some of the executions of civilians on Turkish-backed Islamist factions, Reuters reported.

According to the Greek City Times, some Christians were killed, including two Antiochian Greeks, Tony Petrus and his son, Fadi. The outlet also reported that a Christian icon on Tartous was desecrated. The heads of Syria’s Christian Churches released a joint statement last week condemning the bloodshed and urging national reconciliation.

“Homes have been violated, their sanctity disregarded, and properties looted — scenes that starkly reflect the immense suffering endured by the Syrian people,” the Patriarchs said. “We strongly condemn any act that threatens civil peace and denounce the massacres targeting innocent civilians. These horrific acts stand in stark opposition to all human and moral values,” they stated.

Following al-Sharaa’s calls, fighting erupted again at Syria’s Banias gas power plant between Syria’s new security forces and “remnants of the former regime,” reported the state-run Syrian news agency SANA. SOHR reported that Sharaa-allied gunmen stormed a town in the Baniyas countryside where they looted and set fire to homes.

Following the violence, the delivery of food and basic goods to the areas has been suspended, according to SOHR. SOHR also reported that residents complained about interruption of electricity and drinking water and the suspension of work at bread bakeries.

The clashes have slowed following Syrian security forces surrounding an estimated 5,000 pro-Assad insurgents hiding in mountainous areas, reported the Times of Israel.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the murders by “radical Islamic terrorists, including foreign jihadis” in a statement on Sunday.

“The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families,” Rubio said. “Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”

The leader of a rebel pseudo-government in northwestern Syria, al-Shaara has been accused of grave human rights violations and has reported plans to impose strict sharia law in the country. But he’s also sought to reinvent himself as a moderate force for a tolerant Syria.

He has repeatedly denied that he was a terrorist, including in a PBS interview where he said “it’s a political label that carries no truth or credibility.”

While ruling Idlib province before taking all of Syria, al-Shaara tried to appeal to various minority communities, including the Druze and the Kurds. During a CNN interview, al-Shaara acknowledged that minority groups such as Christians have suffered from jihadist groups during the Syrian civil war, but said they will live safely under the new regime.

“There were some violations against [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” al-Jolani said. “No one has the right to erase another group. These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them.”

Despite his promises to minorities, al-Shaara’s former ties to ISIS and prominent terrorists in the region known for persecuting minorities caused distrust, even before the recent clashes.