Syria’s Civil War Takes Another Deadly, Dramatic Turn

Syria’s 14-year civil war has undergone yet another rapid series of shifts, with violence sweeping the west coast homeland of deposed President Bashar al-Assad’s minority Alawite Muslim sect and the nation’s largely Sunni Islamist-led interim government striking a surprise deal with a Kurdish-led U.S. partner in the northeast.

Reports indicating that around 1,500 have been killed in recent days came amid concerns of other minorities, including Christians and Druze, also being targeted, drawing warnings from a number of foreign powers, including Russia, the United States, Iran and Israel.

Now, just three months after insurgents overthrew the longtime Syrian leader, officials who once served under the former Baathist government are hoping that the newfound alignment between a longtime foe, the U.S., and a traditional ally, Russia, may serve to safeguard Alawites amid bloody clashes that Assad loyalists and the new government in Damascus have blamed on one another.

“All foreign powers that adopt the Islamic approach are strongly rejected by minorities especially Alawites, due to the secular nature of this community,” a former Syrian diplomat who served under Assad’s government told Newsweek. “Most of the community look positively at the Russian and U.S. roles now, particularly that they called for a Security Council meeting.”

“To be honest, the Alawites clearly ask for international protection,” the former diplomat said.

After a brief period of relative tranquility since Assad’s ouster in December and stated efforts by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to unify the fractured nation, unrest erupted Thursday in Syria’s west coast region amid reports of Alawite militias targeting security forces, leading to the deaths of what Sharaa claimed to be more than 200 security personnel.

The new Syrian leader, a former associate of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) who led the now-dissolved Hayat Tahrir al-Sham insurgent faction to victory in December, ordered the mass deployment of fighters to the affected regions.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitor, has since recorded the deaths of at least 1,500 people, including 973 civilians, “all of whom were executed and killed in cold blood.” The monitor reported security forces and allied factions were responsible for most of the deaths.

In response to the violence, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a sharp condemnation of what he referred to Monday as “the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days.”

“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 in a statement. “Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”

The Druze, who largely reside in a region spanning parts of southern Syria and Lebanon as well as northern Israel, have also garnered international attention in recent weeks after reports of clashes between Druze factions and Syria’s interim government forces sparked direct threats of intervention from Israel.

After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month declared Syrian territory south of Damascus to be a demilitarized zone and ordered the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to prepare for potential operations, Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer warned Monday that “Israel is prepared to defend, if needed, the Druze population in Syria from the forces of this new regime.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned against any efforts to divide Syria as it seeks stronger ties with Sharaa’s government, raising concerns of a potential clash between America’s two allies in the Middle East.

Yet Israel has already accelerated military operations in Syria, seizing territory beyond the occupied Golan Heights and intensifying strikes against former Syrian military sites. Reports emerged Monday of a new Israeli air raid targeting the southern province of Daraa, though the IDF has neither confirmed nor denied the report.

Israel has also sought to foster closer ties with the Kurds, whose homeland spans parts of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey. In Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control an expansive autonomous region encompassing much of the country’s northeast, where they are accompanied by U.S. troops.

Turkey has long accused the SDF of harboring ties to the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and has supported operations against the SDF directly and through its Syrian National Army allies. Facing uncertainty over the future of the U.S. military presence under President Donald Trump, who has previously called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces, the PKK signed a historic ceasefire with Turkey last week.

In yet another major turn amid growing sectarian violence elsewhere in Syria, Sharaa and SDF leader Mazloum Abdi announced Monday an agreement through which the SDF would be integrated into the central government. The deal came after years of failed attempts at reconciliation between the SDF and Assad’s government, which both battled ISIS and Turkey-aligned militias but also clashed over the degree to which the SDF-held regions would retain their autonomy.

Sinam Mohamad, representative of the SDF’s political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, in Washington, expressed confidence that the arrangement with Damascus’ new leadership would serve to prevent further violence.

“As for the agreement it is so essential to stop the bloodshed in Syria,” Mohamad told Newsweek. “It will open the doors to build a pluralistic and democratic Syria. The details will be discussed with the committees later.”

Newsweek has reached out to the IDF, the SDF, the Syrian Interim Government, U.S. Central Command and the U.S. State Department for comment.

The latest developments have once again demonstrated the shifting alliances of Syria’s multisided civil war that has been subject to competing geopolitical interests among foreign powers. The events have also reiterated existing concerns over the new government’s willingness and capability of maintaining order nationwide.

While Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, has eschewed his past adherence to jihadi ideologies, skeptics have questioned his new administration’s goals as elections were delayed by years and sectarian violence resurfaced.

“Many people, in the first steps, welcomed Al-Sharaa, or Al-Golani, because they were under a huge pressure during not only during the 14 years, but during the last two years, from the corrupted circles around Assad and awaited what would come from the new governors of Syria,” Bassam Abu Abdullah, a Syrian academic and political analyst, told Newsweek.

“But what happened after that? Good words, good speeches. A lot of promises from Al-Sharaa,” Abu Abdullah said. “But on the in the ground, it’s the opposite of what he is saying.”

Abu Abdullah expressed concern over what he argued was the deliberate exclusion of Alawites and other minorities from the interim government. The situation holds some parallels to the now-infamous “de-Baathification” campaign waged by U.S. officials in Iraq after the invasion that toppled longtime President Saddam Hussein, after which multiple insurgencies ultimately gave rise to Al-Qaeda and ISIS.

In Syria, Abu Abdullah argued citizens were hoping for a non-sectarian framework for their future government.

“We want the rule of law, and we want to be citizens, not Sunni or Shia or Alawi. We want to be citizens in a normal state,” Abu Abdullah said. “Syrians don’t want to go from Al-Assad dictatorship to Al-Sharaa dictatorship.”

The situation is further complicated, however, by foreign powers still recalibrating their strategies by the sudden downfall of Assad. He identified inherent “contradictions” in their approaches as, with the collapse of Assad’s government and Iranian influence, Russia sought to maintain its west coast bases established during the Baathist era by entering into talks with the new government it once fought, an endeavor tacitly backed by Israel to counter Turkish influence.

“Israel is coordinating with Russia and Israel prefers that Russian military bases stay in Syria. It’s in the interest of Israel because it will help to create more balance in Syria in front of the Turkish authority. So, this contradiction of interest between different sides now is making the situation is more complicated,” Abu Abdullah said.

“But the people in Syria are looking for international protection,” he added, “and if Russia will take over in the Mediterranean area, I think the people will accept that.”

Russia’s role may be additionally bolstered by the rapprochement being pursued by the Trump administration with Moscow.

In a dialogue largely focused on the war in Ukraine, Trump also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Middle East during their call last week. The region has served as the venue for further talks as top diplomats from Washington and Moscow have met in Saudi Arabia to discuss an array of issues, including Iran.

After the U.S. and Russia also jointly submitted a request for a closed-door U.N. Security Council session to address the situation in Syria, Russian permanent representative to the U.N. Vasily Nebenzya told reporters Monday that Washington and Moscow were directly coordinating on the issue.

That same day, Kremin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed “deep concern” over the reports of violence in Syria but declined to discuss reports that a number of residents of Latakia province had taken shelter at a Russian military base in the town of Hmeimim.

Such scenes were referenced, however, in a new call to action distributed across social media by a group calling itself the “Islamic Resistance in Syria Mukhtar Forces.” The group accused the new Syrian government of perpetrating massacres of minority communities, warning of an “endless conflict” ahead if the international community did not take immediate measures to halt the violence.

It was the latest warning issued by a group styling itself in similar fashion to Iran-aligned “Axis of Resistance” factions operating in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere in the region after another “Islamic Resistance Front in Syria” group calling itself “Uli al-Baas” or “the Possessors of Might” alleged operations against Syrian security forces and Israeli troops in recent weeks.

Tehran itself has also condemned what Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei called the “unjustifiable” killing of civilians in the former allied nation on Monday.

Turkey, meanwhile, has continued to stand by Sharaa and his efforts to restore order. Erdogan praised Sharaa on Monday for adopting an “inclusive” approach to his rule as the Syrian leader convened what he called an “independent” committee to investigate the violence in the west coast.

As tensions simmered across Syria last week, an official at the Turkish Embassy to the U.S. told Newsweek that, “Türkiye prioritizes a secure and safe Syria, where Syria’s territorial integrity and political unity are preserved” and, as such, “we object to all attempts aimed at undermining Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

“We wish to see Syrians live in a stable country that provides welfare for its citizens, ensures an inclusive political system, and where terrorism emanating from Syria does not pose a threat to Syrian people and Syria’s neighbors,” the official said at the time. “Türkiye is cooperating with regional countries like Jordan and Iraq in helping Syria in its fight against terrorism.”

“Türkiye stood with the Syrian people during the last 14 years in their struggle and is ready to help Syrians achieve peace and prosperity in the period ahead,” the Turkish official said.

The official described the Turkish strategy as “prioritizing its own engagement with the New Administration of Syria,” while also “encouraging the international community to do the same by lifting sanctions, investing in the reconstruction efforts, and rebuilding a peaceful future for all Syrians.”

Turkey, which hosts the largest population of Syrian refugees in the world, also considered “facilitating the return of millions of displaced Syrians” to be “a priority,” according to the official.

Other, such as the former Syrian diplomat with whom Newsweek spoke, have viewed the growing role of Turkey and its allied factions with skepticism, given “their historic ambitions in Syria,” particularly across the country’s northern border and coastal regions. The former diplomat expressed even greater doubts regarding the leadership in Damascus, saying “the ideology of HTS and allied radical groups is the primary cause of violence” now reigniting across the country.

“If there’s no major and concrete international action to stop these terrorist acts,” the former Syrian diplomat said, “greater ethnic cleansing would definitely spread.”