Syrian Islamists Granted Gulf and US Backing Despite Pogroms and Massacres

Syrian Islamists Granted Gulf and US Backing Despite Pogroms and Massacres

Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

President Donald Trump of the United States, along with several Gulf states and Turkey, continues to provide diplomatic and political support to Sunni Islamist power brokers in Damascus amid the ongoing crisis in Syria, despite credible reports of atrocities committed against minority communities. As a result, tensions between the Druze population in Sweida (Suweida) and local Sunni Bedouin groups intensified, particularly after the arrival of Sunni Islamist militants from Damascus who carried out brutal massacres against Druze civilians.

Credible evidence indicates that Druze civilians have been killed by forces loyal to the Syrian Islamist regime following intervention by power brokers in Damascus. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 718 individuals have been killed in the Sweida region, including Druze civilians reportedly subjected to summary executions by Sunni Islamist forces aligned with these power brokers.

Despite an earlier massacre of approximately 1,700 Alawites carried out by Sunni Islamist factions aligned with influential power brokers in Damascus—alongside other documented attacks on Christian and Druze communities this year—the Syrian population continues to be left vulnerable to the resurgence of groups and individuals previously aligned with ISIS (Islamic State), Al-Qaeda, and other Sunni Islamist terrorist groups.

Gideon Saar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, stated pointedly that it is “very dangerous” to belong to a religious minority in Syria, adding, “This has been proven time and again over the past six months.”

Saar continued: “The international community must ensure the security and rights of the minorities in Syria.” 

America, the European Union, Gulf states, Turkey, and the United Kingdom appear to be abandoning religious minorities and secular communities to the influence of Sunni Islamist forces in Syria. Meanwhile, the Kurds are closely monitoring the situation with growing anxiety, fearing they too may be left unsupported.

Tom Barrack (US ambassador to Turkey) said: “We call upon Druze, Bedouins, and Sunnis to put down their weapons and together with other minorities build a new and united Syrian identity in peace and prosperity with its neighbors.” 

One Druze individual told the BBC that Islamists loyal to the regime in Damascus “…stormed neighborhoods, selecting the houses that look wealthy. They looted these houses and then torched them. They sprayed unarmed civilians with bullets.”

The BBC reports, “One woman heard the fighters shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) in her building, calling the Druze ‘infidels’ and ‘pigs,’ and saying they were there to kill them.”

Despite this, the Trump administration, the European Union, Gulf states, Turkey, and the United Kingdom continue to turn a blind eye to repeated pogroms and massacres. As a result, religious minorities and the Kurds face a growing threat to their safety.

Trump and other leaders have exerted significant pressure on Israel to accept the developments in Syria. However, the Druze community in Israel is expected to continue urging the Israeli government to hold Sunni Islamist power brokers in Damascus militarily accountable.

The United States, the European Union, Gulf states, Turkey, and the United Kingdom ought to be deeply ashamed of their collective overtures to Sunni Islamist power brokers in Damascus, who aim to suppress religious minorities and secularists through ruling by fear.

Religious minorities, secularists, Kurds, and other vulnerable groups face grave dangers under the emerging rule of Sunni Islamist power brokers in Damascus. So why is the international community abandoning Syria’s religious mosaic to these Sunni Islamist forces?

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