Nascent Yemen

Jolani’s Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham terrorists open fire at peaceful protesters.

Thousands of Alawites took to the streets in protest across Syria’s coastal cities on 25 November to demonstrate against government-sponsored sectarian violence, one day after the minority’s religious leader called for mass sit-ins.

The cities of Tartous, Latakia, Baniyas, Jableh, and Homs were filled with protesters. People marched, chanted, and carried signs and slogans rejecting the ongoing violence against Alawites carried out by Syrian government forces and allied militias. Others held signs calling for “federalism,” echoing the call made by their religious leader the day before.According to local reports, Alawite protesters were shot at and injured by Syrian security forces in multiple cities, while others have been detained and taken to unknown locations.

Some Christians reportedly also took part in the demonstrations.The protests come mainly in response to a massive attack on Alawite civilians carried out by government-backed tribal militias two days ago. The attackers entered the Al-Muhajireen neighborhood in Homs, storming and burning houses and shops, vandalizing cars, and firing indiscriminately at residents.

At least two were killed and dozens were injured during the attack, which was framed as revenge for the killing of a married couple from the Bani Khaled tribe in Homs recently. An anti-Sunni sectarian slogan was found written on the wall in blood, prompting some to speculate that the murder was a false-flag aimed specifically at fueling sectarian tensions.

The Syrian Interior Ministry also said there was no evidence that it was a sectarian crime, adding that it appeared to be an attempt at “incitement.”

As the protests began on Tuesday, residents of Homs spoke to Al Mayadeen about the tribal attack and their fears of an escalated campaign of sectarian violence against Alawites.

“We thought the years of war were behind us. Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire returned to the streets, and people started running in every direction. My children slept last night in one room away from the windows … I couldn’t sleep for a single moment,” one resident said.

“Everyone is in shock,” another Homs resident told Al Mayadeen. “People are afraid of new sectarian tension. Everyone just wants calm to return.”

The coastal protests come one day after the Alawite religious leader in Syria, Ghazal Ghazal, made a call for people to take to the streets.

Ghazal urged Alawites to hold “a sit-in in their areas” to demand “federalism and political decentralization, an end to ethnic cleansing, killing, kidnapping, and captivity, and the release of [Alawites] detained in prisons.”

The statement also called on Alawites to document and record all their activities during the protests.

Thousands of Alawite civilians were massacred in March this year by Syrian government forces during a violent crackdown to quell an armed uprising carried out by members of the community.

Since then, the Alawite community has been disarmed by Damascus and has been left vulnerable to sectarian attacks and killing sprees. Young Alawite girls continue to disappear as a result of government-linked kidnapping networks, and Alawite men are regularly executed.

Thousands of Druze civilians were also massacred by government forces during clashes in Suwayda earlier this year.

The Syrian army is predominantly made up of what used to be known as the Al-Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Numerous other extremist factions with links to ISIS have been made official brigades in the Syrian military since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government and the collapse of his army last year.

Government violence against minorities in Syria over the past year has prompted some to call for federalism, or the division of the country along sectarian lines.

Observers have also speculated that Israel, which established a large-scale occupation in Syria after Assad was ousted, has been pushing for federalism in a bid to divide Syria.

These speculations gained more traction after the massacres of the Druze in Suwayda in July, when Israel was publicly calling for their protection and vowing to “defend” minorities in Syria.

“The Israeli aim is to keep Syria as a weak state, divided into autonomous zones drawn along ethnic lines, and to prevent the new Syrian government from uniting Syria,” the US think tank, Atlantic Council, said in April.

The Cradle Media report

Alawite religious councils in Syria and Lebanon have issued an urgent call for large, peaceful protests on Tuesday after a surge of violent attacks on Alawite neighborhoods in Homs. Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the diaspora, urged citizens to take to the streets to condemn the assaults and demand protection for civilians, as the councils appealed to the UN and international bodies for immediate intervention.

Local authorities extended a curfew in several districts following the murder of a couple from the Bedouin Bani Khalid tribe, an incident that triggered retaliatory pogroms across Homs involving arson, gunfire, and widespread destruction. Although security forces say stability has been restored and investigations are underway, the Alawite councils accuse the authorities of failing to safeguard vulnerable communities. Tomorrow’s protests aim to draw attention to escalating sectarian targeting and prevent the situation from deteriorating further.

The Cradle Media

An Alawite neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs was attacked by members of the HTS-backed Sunni Bani Khalid Bedouin tribe on 23 November, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

According to reports, the attackers entered the Al-Muhajireen neighborhood, storming and burning houses and shops, vandalizing cars, and firing indiscriminately at residents.

Initial reports indicate dozens of Alawites have been killed or wounded amid the chaos, which spread to the Al-Basel and Arman neighborhoods.

The attack by the Bedouin fighters allegedly comes in response to the brutal murder of a married couple from the Bani Khalid tribe in the town of Zaydal, located south of Homs city.

The couple was found dead inside their home, and the wife’s body was burned.

A sectarian slogan was found written on the wall in blood, suggesting the killers wished to anger Sunnis and spark a sectarian conflict in Homs, which is roughly divided between Sunni and Alawite residents.

The Bedouin attack coincided with the end of the school day, prompting security forces to intervene and prevent students from leaving.

The Syrian Ministry of Interior issued a statement stating that an investigation into the couple’s murder was ongoing and that the perpetrators had not been identified.

“This attack appears to have the goal of fueling sectarian divisions and undermining stability in the region,” said Major General Murhaf al-Nassan, head of internal security in Homs, in a statement to state media SANA.

“We are taking immediate measures to prevent further escalation,” he added.

Syrian journalist Scharo Maroof noted that “If this was indeed a murder, perpetrated by Alawite militants, it would not seem plausible for them to leave sectarian statements written in blood on the wall, the Alawite community is well aware that in every scenario, they would become the victim.”

Alawites were disarmed by Syria’s new government, led by former Al-Qaeda leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, after it came to power in December.

This has left Alawites largely defenseless and vulnerable to attacks by Syria’s new security forces and affiliated armed factions, who view all Alawites as deserving of death, due to their association with the former government of Bashar al-Assad during the 14-year war and due to the sectarian teachings of the medieval Islamic scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah, who declared them apostates.

As a result, Alawite civilians have been regularly murdered and kidnapped in Homs since Assad’s fall, including in several cases in just the past week.

On Friday, Wissam Daher Al-Ali (23 years old) and Muhammad Saleh Al-Ali (24 years old), cousins from the village of Abu Hakfa, were reported missing from the Al-Zahraa neighborhood in Homs city.

The bodies of the two young Alawite men were found that evening inside Al-Waer Hospital in Homs after being stoned to death.

The day before, a live broadcast from the city of Homs showed a number of local residents welcoming home a group of men who had been arrested for killing Alawites in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of the city.

The live broadcast was accompanied by a caption stating:

“His Eminence Sheikh Sahl Junaid, may God preserve him, the Mufti of Homs, along with the people of Homs and the families of the martyrs, welcome the heroes who avenged our martyrs.”

According to the Syrian Justice Archive (SJA), “This indicates their acknowledgment that these individuals were responsible for killing civilians ‘as revenge’ and yet they were released.”

On 15 November, five Alawite men were massacred in the village of Umm Hartin al-Gharbiyah in the western Homs countryside, including the mukhtar of the village, SJA reported.

According to local sources, armed men riding in vehicles belonging to the government’s General Security Services (GSS) entered the village and opened fire inside a cafe.

On Thursday, the body of an Alawite man was found dumped on the Sixty highway after having been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen two days before from inside his shop in Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood behind the amusement park in Homs city, according to SOHR.

The Cradle Media report