Jolani’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorists killed over 1,700 civilians from the Alawite minority sect in a series of brutal massacres on the country’s coast last month.

The UK government has lifted more of its sanctions that were imposed on Syria during the era of the former government, coming as the new, extremist-dominated administration has been hoping to secure international funding and fully end the country’s isolation.

The UK lifted the asset freezes it had imposed on Syria’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Defense, and the Intelligence Directorate on 24 April.

The British Finance Ministry said in a notice that these departments were among 12 entities no longer subject to sanctions.

On 7 March, London announced the lifting of sanctions on 24 entities in Syria, including the country’s central bank. The UK was the first country to unfreeze all Syrian central bank assets. Sanctions on the state airliner and state-owned oil firms were also removed on 6 March.

This came as Syrian government forces – which incorporated numerous extremist factions into its ranks after the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government – were carrying out brutal massacres against Alawite civilians on the Syrian coast, during an operation to quell an armed uprising against the authorities.

During a four-day period, at least 1,700 Alawite civilians, including scores of women and children, were killed by government troops.

A state-led investigation into the massacres was launched, but none of the findings have been made public. The Syrian government, led by interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former Al-Qaeda chief, issued a decree earlier this month extending the investigation period by three months.

According to an investigation carried out by The Cradle’s Syria correspondent, published on 23 April, numerous women – predominantly from the Alawite sect – have been kidnapped by armed factions affiliated with Damascus and taken to the northern Idlib province to serve as sex slaves.

Dozens of mysterious kidnappings have taken place since the fall of the former government in December last year.

Idlib-based activist Heba Ezzedeen recently described her encounter with a woman who she said was captured during the government-led coastal massacres in March and taken to Idlib for a forced marriage.

After inquiring further, the activist found that other women had been captured from the Syrian coast by armed factions during the March massacres and taken to Idlib.

Idlib is the stronghold of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the former Al-Qaeda affiliate, which was led by Sharaa – who previously went by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Julani. HTS – formerly known as the Nusra Front – was based in Idlib prior to the lightning offensive, which saw the group topple the Assad government and assume control over the Syrian state and its institutions.

Syria’s security and military forces are dominated by members of HTS and fighters from what was known as the Syrian National Army (SNA) – a Turkish proxy formed in 2017.

The SNA groups, which were incorporated into the Syrian army and security apparatus, are known to have scores of ex-ISIS fighters and commanders within their ranks.

Despite its extremist nature, the Syrian state has been granted sanctions relief not only from the UK but from a number of EU states as well.

Washington is also offering the Syrian government relief from sanctions in exchange for fulfilling certain conditions, including destroying remaining chemical weapons stores and cooperating with the US and its allies on “counterterrorism.”

According to Reuters, the US conditions also include cracking down on Palestinian resistance factions in Syria.

Chairman of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee and the US Armed Services Committee, Congressman Cory Mills, recently visited the Syrian capital and held talks with Sharaa and his Foreign Minister, Asaad al-Shaibani.

The Cradle Media report