Mehmet Ugur
Professor of Economics and Institutions
University of Greenwich
Israel’s war on Gaza and the ascendance of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) to power in Syria have exposed an alarmingreadiness of Western powers to condone and be complicit in genocide in exchange for geopolitical gains. First, we were bombarded with biased information that justified the genocide in Gaza, citing Israel’s right to self-defence. Now, we are being told that the HTS is a potential force for ‘democratic transition’ in Syria; and that the violence perpetrated against the Alawis was provoked by remnants of the Assad regime.
The aim of this article is to call for international action to protect the Alawi community from extermination. To this end, I first demonstrate that sectarian violence against Alawis in Syria has a long history. Secondly, I provide evidence that the ongoing violence is being perpetrated with full knowledge of the transitional HTS regime and under the watch of itssupporters in the West and in the region. I conclude by calling on civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and aid agencies to protect a defenceless faith community and challenge our governments’ shameful complicity in yet another unfolding genocide at the same time.
Fatwa as a religious tool for extermination
Alawism is an esoteric religion. It differs from Sunni Islam by positing that belief is an internal experience and a spiritual path rather than formal compliance with external rules and scriptures. It is also an inclusive religion. For example, it embraces some elements of neo-Platonism, particularly the idea that being and knowledge are multi-level phenomena. Moreover, Alawi rituals include the celebration of pre-Islamic festive events (e.g., the spring equinox on 21 March and the Mihragan marking the autumn equinox) as well as events important for the Christian faith (e.g., the Baptism of Jesus [ʿId al-Qiddes] and the Christmas Eve [Laylat al-Milad].Another difference from Sunni Islam is that it accords divine attributes to Ali bin Abu Talib, the fourth Caliph and the son in law of the Prophet Mohammed.
The esoteric and inclusive attributes of their religion have made the Alawis a hate target for the mainstream Sunni establishment. The hate has been perpetuated by numerous Fatwas (religious edicts) that, since the early 14th century, had declared Alawis as heretics to be exterminated (Thalhamy, 2010).
The first fatwa was issued by Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyya, a traditionalist Hanbali mufti who advocated a return to original sources of jurisprudence as a way of strengthening Islamic rule against the Mongol invaders in the last quarter of the 13thcentury. Soon after the defeat of the Mongol invaders by the Muslim Mamluk dynasty in Syria at the start of the 14thcentury, he considered the extermination of the Alawis as a next step towards the consolidation of the Mamluk rule.
Indeed, his first fatwa was issued just before the Mamluks’ 1305 military expedition against the Kisrawan region in Lebanon, which ended with the first large-scale massacre of Alawis and other minority creeds. As the Mamluk attacksunfolded, the surviving Alawis from Kisrawan moved to the mountainous region in North Syria, which eventually came to be known as the Alawi Mountains. In two more fatwas issued between 1305-1317, ibn Taymiyya decreed that the Alawis are the worst enemies of Islam, that the food they touch should not be eaten, and that it is permissible to kill their warriors, take their children as captives, and confiscate their property.
According to Thalhamy (2010), ibn Taymiyya’s fatwas were based on poor knowledge of the Alawis and false theological and historical accusations. Nonetheless, ibn Taymiyya’sfatwas continued to be upheld by the mainstream Sunni establishment, who issued similar fatwas particularly during periods of war and conflict. For example, the Ottoman Sultan Selim I (Yavuz) relied on a fatwa from Shaykh Nuh al-Hanafiin 1516 to massacre more than 40,000 Alawis when he conquered Syria in 1517. These massacres came only three years after Yavuz had already massacred more than 100 thousand Alawis in Anatolia, particularly near the border with Persia (Iran) with which the Ottomans were at war.
A second fatwa during the Ottoman rule was issued in 1820, when the empire had entered the period of terminal decline. It was given by a Sunni Shaykh, Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Mugrabi who ruled that the lives and property of the Alawis are at the disposal of true Muslims. Relying on Mugrabi’sfatwa, the occupying Egyptian army massacred the Syrian Alawis and enslaved their women in 1830s, when the latter objected to mass conscription.
We observe similar justifications of sectarian violence against Alawis through fatwas in modern times, particularly during the rise of the Islamic opposition to the Assad regime. For example, in 2013, the chairman of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, called on “every Sunni Muslim with military training to fight against Shiites and Alawites in Syria.” Al-Qaradawi also echoed earlier fatwas and stated that the Alawites are “more unbelieving than the Jews”.
Alawi-bashing HTS and its appeasers
Western governments and the main-stream Western media have been portraying the HTS as a reformed Islamic organisation that can be induced to oversee a just transition towards an inclusive polity in Syria. This policy is unfolding against a background where all Western governments still designate the HTS as a terrorist organisation. The strange juxtaposition is explained by the pundits as a wise mixture of carrots and sticks that would serve several Western objectives, including the eradication of the Assad regime as a threat for Israel, weakening and eventually transforming Iran, delivering democratic transition in Syria, and re-asserting American-led western hegemony in the Middle east.
What has transpired since the HTS’ rise to power, however, is that the ‘wise mix’ is working to deliver yet another failed state. Syria is highly likely to remain marred in economic and political chaos – as has been the case in Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq over the last decade. The evidence in that direction includes mob mobilisation based on demonising the Alawis as heretics and Assad regime remnants, continued existence of armed groups manned by foreign fighters, a ruined economy with a poverty rate of over 90%, and a questionable claim to sovereignty made almost totally non-credible by military occupation and bombardments of Syria by Turkey and by Israel.
Under these conditions, it is not surprising to observe that sectarian violence against the Alawis was incited by mosque imams and executed by HTS forces and their armed partners. For example, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) report that photos, footage and reports published by news agencies and on social media showed Alawis being humiliated and executed in broad daylight. Armed HTS units mostly self-videoed themselves bragging about their actions and threatening to wipe out the Alawis from the face of the earth.
Similarly, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR)reports that the death toll over the first 100 days of the HTS rule included 4,711 civilians. Of these, 1,703 were killed in March 2025 when HTS units and its armed supporters stormed the coastal areas where the Alawis mostly live. These figures are believed to represent only the tip of the iceberg, as more than 20 thousand civilians are still missing. Also, the number of fatalities during the flight of around 30 thousand Alawis to Lebanon and the Russian base at Khmeimim is still unknown.
According to MEMRI, the bodies of the civilians were left lying in the streets of the cities and villages in the Latakia, Tartous and Hama governorates. The HTS units and their supporters raided and fired directly on civilians without discrimination. In some cases, entire families were massacred, and their homes and property were torched.Women were paraded naked in the street before being shot. Between 7-10 March, HTS forces also bombarded the coastal cities with barrel bombs, repeating the practice used by the Assad regime.
The Human Rights and Humanitarian Follow-up Committee (HRHFC) examined 25 massacres between 7-10 March and verified the names of 2,246 Alawi victims and 42 victims form other minority sects. The Committee also report that the Alawi region is on the brink of an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe due to a poverty rate that has exceeded 97% of the population. This is combined with unlawful arrests and enforced disappearances of more than 10thousand Alawis, collective dismissal of Alawis from public sector employment including the health and education sectors, confiscation of private property, and the spread of hate speech and sectarian incitement through mosques and HTS propaganda.
Analysing the operational documents, the HRHFC reports that the orders for the Alawi massacres came from the interim president himself, who called for general mobilization and deployment to the coastal region to “quell the conspiracy.” The orders obtained and analysed by the Committee were issued by the following officers of the HTS regime:
1. The Syrian Military Chief of Staff Ali Nour al-Din al-Naasan (from the leadership of HTS and al-Nusra)
2. The Syrian Minister of Defense Murhaf Abu Qasra (from the military and security leadership of HTS)
3. The Director of General Intelligence Anas Hassan Khattab (from the security leadership of HTS)
Their orders began with the phrase “In accordance with the directives of the President of the Republic” and were communicated to the following units:
1. The military and security apparatus of HTS (All Syrian and foreigner armed groups under the HTS umbrella)
2. Five Syrian armed groups not yet amalgamated with HTS, including the Al-Amshat Division, Al-Hamzat Division, Ahrar al-Sharqiya Movement, Al-Muntasir Billah Division, Muhammad al-Fateh Division, and Sultan Murad Division
3. A score of foreign (muhajireen) armed groups not yet amalgamated with HTS, including the Sunni MuhajireenMovement in Iran, the Caucasus Brigade, the Uzbek Brigade, the Turkestan Islamic Party, the Moroccans Brigade, the Tajik Group and the Abu Yaqub al-Turki Brigade among others
Amnesty International has investigated the killing of 32 civilians by the militias affiliated with the government in the coastal city of Banias on 8 and 9 March 2025. Their findings confirmed that the killings were deliberate and targeted at the Alawite minority. Families were forced by the authorities to bury their loved one in mass burial sites without religious rites or public ceremony. Commenting on the findings, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard stated that “… government affiliated militias deliberately targeted civilians from the Alawite minority…” and that the “…authorities failed to intervene to stop the killings.”
The supporters of HTS in the West and the region have decided to turn a blind eye to the massacres of Alawis by the HTS forces and other allied armed groups. Instead, the European Union and the US were on the same wavelength with Sunni autocracies such as Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia describing the massacres as collateral damage resulting from clashes with the remnants of the Assad regime. The complicity of the regional autocracies was naturally more overt, reflecting the Sunni sectarian colours of their ideologies.
All have been quick to declare support to the HTS regime during its operations in the coastal areas without making any reference to the fate of Alawis in the region. For its part, the Turkish government has tolerated and implicitly encouraged a barrage of hate speech against Alawis in both Syria and Turkey. On the other hand, the Qatari intelligence was behind a massive troll attack aimed at spreading misinformation and smears against organisations and news platforms reporting HTS’ complicity in the massacres. This has led the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) to report that:
Arabic and English pages and accounts of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Facebook and X have been subjected to a fierce systematic report campaign by “electronic flies” … with support by an Arab state and under coordination with authorities in Damascus
At this juncture, it is very apt to cite Joseph Massad, who lamented the hijacking of the Syrian revolution in 2011 with the following words:
Those who see the Syrian popular struggle for democracy as having already been hijacked by these imperial and pro-imperial forces inside and outside Syria understand that a continuation of the revolt will only bring … a US-imposed pliant and repressive regime à la Iraq and Libya. …. In light of the new move by the Arab League, the US, and Europe, the struggle to overthrow Asad may very well succeed, but the struggle to bring about a democratic regime in Syria has been thoroughly defeated.
Call for international action
One conclusion that follows from the evidence above is that sectarian violence against Alawis has a long history of repeated massacres, perpetrated by Sunni rulers and condoned by the Sunni religious leaders in their service. Therefore, the silence of the Sunni autocracies towards and/or complicity in the ongoing Alawi massacres in Syria is not surprising. What is alarming is the shameful alignment of the Western governments and media with this stance, in exchange for securing geopolitical gains expected from having the HTS-ruled Syria as a new ally in the Middle East.
The second conclusion is that civil society organisations, rights defenders, progressive grass-root movements, and aid agencies must take the lead in calling for international protection of the Alawis and other minorities in Syria. The call should reflect local demands, which include the establishment of an international monitoring and fact-finding mission in affected regions, opening of international humanitarian corridors from Lebanon and along the Mediterranean cost, and mobilisation of international aid charities. The call should also remind national governments that complicity in an unfolding genocide is a crime that will eventually come to haunt the complicit actors and institutions. It is only through such forceful civilian calls that we can hope to change the governments’ approach, protect the Alawis as a defenceless community, and put a stop to the decline of democracy and human rights across the globe.
