Al-Shaara Proved He is Still a Jihadist Commander
Recently, we saw large-scale violence targeting the Syrian Druze community in Sweida province in southern Syria. Druze are a small religious minority group in Syria and are around 3.20% of the total Syrian population. As per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces and allied militias have carried out massacres in Sweida, and approximately 600 members of the Druze community have been killed, including 140 women and children. This eruption of violence was an eerie reminder of a series of violent attacks that have been launched against the Syrian religious and ethnic minorities since the current regime came to power. The Syrian National Army (SNA), which is also part of a coalition led by President Ahmad Al-Shaara's group Hayat Taheer Al-Sham (HTS) attacked Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in North-East Syria in December 2024. In particular, fierce fighting along the Tishreen Dam became the focal point. In March, indiscriminate killings of Alawites were carried out in the Syrian coastal areas, especially in the city of Banias. While exact figures remain difficult to verify, more than 1,300 individuals, most of them Alawites, lost their lives. In some cases, entire families were summarily executed. These atrocities were solely directed against the Alawite minority and instigated by militias affiliated with the new regime, ostensibly as part of a response to attacks in Latakia and Tartous from armed groups affiliated with the deposed Assad regime. In the name of fighting former President Bashar Al-Assad, loyalist collective punishment was inflicted on the Alawite community.
In June this year church in the Syrian capital of Damascus was rocked by a suicide explosion; in this deadly attack, 25 people were killed. The Syrian authorities blamed the attack on the Islamic State (IS) group. However, a lesser-known Sunni extremist group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, claimed responsibility for this attack. Many analysts believe this little-known group has deep links with HTS, as their relations with HTS stretch back to before the Bashar Al-Assad regime's fall. Then, it was allegedly part of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's broader coalition and helped HTS recruit cells to operate inside Assad-held territory. If we look at the pattern of all these past attacks, it clearly indicates that they were carried out on the instructions or at least with tacit approval of the current Syrian regime. The objective of these attacks was to subdue the minorities through terror, so they wouldn't demand their political rights. The current Syrian regime got emboldened by the recent lifting of Western sanctions and the informal recognition it got from Arab states and the United States. In May 2025, the US president met Ahmad Al-Shaara in the Saudi capital Riyadh and expressed admiration for him. He went further and mentioned Al-Shaara as a strongman, the brute, the resilient survivor, and declared him a 'Tough guy with a very strong past.' The US president should have done research and dug more into the past of Al-Shaara, as his past is one marked by links to al-Qaeda, nothing else.
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HTS subscribes to the Salafist school of thought, which is the same as Al-Qaeda's. The group imposed strict Islamic rule in areas it controlled in the past, and civilians in those areas say the group's practices are like those of the Islamic State. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham used to host a significant number of foreign fighters, including Arabs, Turks, Chechens, Uzbeks, and Muslims from China's Xinjiang province. The group's attitude toward heterodox minorities like the Druze and Alawites never changed. There is, for example, a small community of Druze in northern Idlib whose inhabitants were forced to convert to Islam by HTS predecessor, Al-Nusra Front, in 2015. We should always be mindful of the fact that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is no different from Al-Qaeda; it's just the old wine in a new bottle. In January 2017, HTS was born out of the merger of Salafi jihadists from mainly Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Liwa al-Haq, Jaysh al-Sunna, and Jabhat Ansar al-Din with Al-Nusra Front. HTS tried to showcase through various mergers with other groups that it has ended its affiliation with Al-Qaeda, but definitely, these mergers did not indicate an ideological split with Al-Qaeda but were part of a strategy to increase the group's appeal within Syria.
Ahmad Al-Shaara should come to his senses and understand the fact that just by taking off his military attire and wearing a business suit, he can't fool the world. Syria is a multiethnic society consisting of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkomans, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis. To keep the country united and stable, the future Syrian state should be a nation that accommodates and grants rights to all the ethnic and religious groups, so that everyone feels their participation in running the state. Unless the current regime doesn't follow this approach honestly, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) must be isolated and marginalized by the international community. As with the current jihadist ideology and criminal actions, the current regime of Al-Shaara remains a ticking time bomb that arguably poses a greater long-term threat to the region and Syria's stability.
Also published on Medium.
Notice an issue? Arabian Post strives to deliver the most accurate and reliable information to its readers. If you believe you have identified an error or inconsistency in this article, please don't hesitate to contact our editorial team at editor[at]thearabianpost[dot]com. We are committed to promptly addressing any concerns and ensuring the highest level of journalistic integrity.
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Arabian Post
15 hours ago
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Al-Shaara Proved He is Still a Jihadist Commander
By Manish Rai Recently, we saw large-scale violence targeting the Syrian Druze community in Sweida province in southern Syria. Druze are a small religious minority group in Syria and are around 3.20% of the total Syrian population. As per the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces and allied militias have carried out massacres in Sweida, and approximately 600 members of the Druze community have been killed, including 140 women and children. This eruption of violence was an eerie reminder of a series of violent attacks that have been launched against the Syrian religious and ethnic minorities since the current regime came to power. The Syrian National Army (SNA), which is also part of a coalition led by President Ahmad Al-Shaara's group Hayat Taheer Al-Sham (HTS) attacked Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in North-East Syria in December 2024. In particular, fierce fighting along the Tishreen Dam became the focal point. In March, indiscriminate killings of Alawites were carried out in the Syrian coastal areas, especially in the city of Banias. While exact figures remain difficult to verify, more than 1,300 individuals, most of them Alawites, lost their lives. In some cases, entire families were summarily executed. These atrocities were solely directed against the Alawite minority and instigated by militias affiliated with the new regime, ostensibly as part of a response to attacks in Latakia and Tartous from armed groups affiliated with the deposed Assad regime. In the name of fighting former President Bashar Al-Assad, loyalist collective punishment was inflicted on the Alawite community. In June this year church in the Syrian capital of Damascus was rocked by a suicide explosion; in this deadly attack, 25 people were killed. The Syrian authorities blamed the attack on the Islamic State (IS) group. However, a lesser-known Sunni extremist group, Saraya Ansar al-Sunnah, claimed responsibility for this attack. Many analysts believe this little-known group has deep links with HTS, as their relations with HTS stretch back to before the Bashar Al-Assad regime's fall. Then, it was allegedly part of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's broader coalition and helped HTS recruit cells to operate inside Assad-held territory. If we look at the pattern of all these past attacks, it clearly indicates that they were carried out on the instructions or at least with tacit approval of the current Syrian regime. The objective of these attacks was to subdue the minorities through terror, so they wouldn't demand their political rights. The current Syrian regime got emboldened by the recent lifting of Western sanctions and the informal recognition it got from Arab states and the United States. In May 2025, the US president met Ahmad Al-Shaara in the Saudi capital Riyadh and expressed admiration for him. He went further and mentioned Al-Shaara as a strongman, the brute, the resilient survivor, and declared him a 'Tough guy with a very strong past.' The US president should have done research and dug more into the past of Al-Shaara, as his past is one marked by links to al-Qaeda, nothing else. ADVERTISEMENT HTS subscribes to the Salafist school of thought, which is the same as Al-Qaeda's. The group imposed strict Islamic rule in areas it controlled in the past, and civilians in those areas say the group's practices are like those of the Islamic State. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham used to host a significant number of foreign fighters, including Arabs, Turks, Chechens, Uzbeks, and Muslims from China's Xinjiang province. The group's attitude toward heterodox minorities like the Druze and Alawites never changed. There is, for example, a small community of Druze in northern Idlib whose inhabitants were forced to convert to Islam by HTS predecessor, Al-Nusra Front, in 2015. We should always be mindful of the fact that Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is no different from Al-Qaeda; it's just the old wine in a new bottle. In January 2017, HTS was born out of the merger of Salafi jihadists from mainly Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki, Liwa al-Haq, Jaysh al-Sunna, and Jabhat Ansar al-Din with Al-Nusra Front. HTS tried to showcase through various mergers with other groups that it has ended its affiliation with Al-Qaeda, but definitely, these mergers did not indicate an ideological split with Al-Qaeda but were part of a strategy to increase the group's appeal within Syria. Ahmad Al-Shaara should come to his senses and understand the fact that just by taking off his military attire and wearing a business suit, he can't fool the world. Syria is a multiethnic society consisting of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Turkomans, Alawites, Druze, and Yazidis. To keep the country united and stable, the future Syrian state should be a nation that accommodates and grants rights to all the ethnic and religious groups, so that everyone feels their participation in running the state. Unless the current regime doesn't follow this approach honestly, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) must be isolated and marginalized by the international community. As with the current jihadist ideology and criminal actions, the current regime of Al-Shaara remains a ticking time bomb that arguably poses a greater long-term threat to the region and Syria's stability. Also published on Medium. Notice an issue? Arabian Post strives to deliver the most accurate and reliable information to its readers. If you believe you have identified an error or inconsistency in this article, please don't hesitate to contact our editorial team at editor[at]thearabianpost[dot]com. We are committed to promptly addressing any concerns and ensuring the highest level of journalistic integrity. ADVERTISEMENT
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The National
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When five armed men in military fatigues stormed the guesthouse where Hatem Radwan and his family were sheltering in Sweida, he did what tradition dictated: he offered them coffee. His offer was met with bullets as the assailants opened fire, killing 11 members of the Radwan family, a long-established name in Sweida, in southern Syria. Mr Radwan miraculously survived. 'I was sitting right here,' he said, pointing to the centre of the room. A bullet had grazed his face, striking the portrait of one of the family's sheikhs hanging just above his head. 'I have no idea how I'm still alive,' he added. He recalled the gunmen shouting: 'You're all Druze pigs', smashing traditional decorations and playing with swords mounted on the wall, before opening fire. The Radwan family had taken refuge in the guesthouse that Tuesday morning, amid worsening clashes between Druze militias, Syrian troops and armed Bedouin. The violence was closing in. Unknown cars roamed the streets and the sound of gunfire drew nearer. But in the madafeh, they believed they were safe. This traditional communal guesthouse had historically served as a neutral and protected space for receiving guests, elders and mediators. Weapons are banned there. Videos filmed shortly after the massacre show bodies piled on top of one another, lying in pools of blood that still stained the floor more than a week later, when The National visited Sweida on Thursday. Mr Radwan said the corpses of his relatives, soaked in blood, were slipping from his hands as he tried to move them. Wave of violence The clashes erupted in Sweida last week, as attacks between Bedouin and Druze factions escalated into widespread violence, killing more than 1,000 people. Syrian government forces were deployed to contain the unrest, but Druze militias, who deeply distrust the new Syrian authorities and viewed them as siding with the Bedouin, mobilised to push them back. Mr Radwan's account is among many harrowing testimonies shared with The National by residents of the devastated provincial capital of Sweida. He said he could not identify who killed his family. Other Sweida residents said they saw men in official security force uniforms participating in the violence. The National could not independently verify all the witness accounts. A precarious calm has since returned to Sweida, after a ceasefire was reached between Druze leaders and Damascus on Wednesday. Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara, seen as more sympathetic to the Bedouin, vowed that those responsible for abuses would be held accountable, vowing to protect the Druze minority, while praising the tribes for their 'heroic actions' against Druze 'outlaw groups'. Stench of death Days of violence have turned Sweida into a war zone. Inside homes, bullets and children's toys meld on the ground. Many shops and houses, their walls blackened by fire, have been looted while shards of glass litter the streets. Charred Syrian army tanks line the roads, struck by Israeli forces. Israel, which distrusts the new Syrian government led by a disarmed faction formerly affiliated with Al Qaeda, has intervened in the conflict, claiming to defend the Druze, a religious minority which also has followers in Israel. Graffiti bears the names of tribal groups that fought against Druze militias inside the city. The conflict between Druze, considered heretics by some extremist Sunni militant groups, and Sunni Bedouin communities has deep historical roots but had never reached this level of brutality during the Syrian civil war. Sweida had largely been spared the worst of that conflict. But now a suffocating stench of blood hangs across the area, after bodies were left for days decomposing in the scorching heat. Counting the dead The Sweida National Hospital has been documenting the toll of the violence. Doctor Akraim Naim told The National that the facility has received 509 bodies 'so far'. Medical staff have photographed each victim they received. On his computer, Mr Naim showed some of the images, including the bodies of women and children. Among them was three-month-old Sirine Gharezzeddine, her round baby face covered in blood, and her mother, Dalal. Dr Naim said most of the victims were civilians. 'Is this man a fighter?' he said, showing a picture of a dead elderly man. 'Is this woman a fighter too?' he asked. On Monday, more than 100 bodies of Sweida residents were buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of the city. The corpses were lined up across a stretch of nearly 20 metres. Blood from the lorry that transported them stained the road in front of the burial site. At the Sweida hospital, six bodies from Bedouin communities remain in a room, lying in a dark pool of blood, still awaiting return to their families. Besieged city As survivors mourn their dead, they continue to suffer. While fighting has stopped inside the city of Sweida, residents remain trapped due to sporadic clashes on the outskirts. The situation remains volatile. Armed tribesmen from across Syria, mobilised by a call to arms against Druze factions, remain deployed around the city's periphery. Meanwhile, Sheikh Hikmat Al Hijri, one of the community's spiritual leaders, has refused to allow government forces to re-enter the city and has rejected the terms of the ceasefire. Residents said Sweida is under siege, with little humanitarian aid reaching the city. People were seen waiting in lines for hours, hoping to buy five litres of fuel, the capped limit. Inside Sweida, where residents had once celebrated the fall of the Assad regime, many now say they have lost faith in the new authorities. 'We had some trust in them,' said a relative of Mr Radwan. But after violence in Sweida, 'they didn't just destroy our trust, they shattered the Syrian identity', he said.
