Sectarian Bloodletting or Last Gasp of a Dying Regime

Current Events
Written By Daniel Stoker

The news coming out of Syria the past couple of days is distressing and not a good sign of what may come next for the country. On Thursday, remnants of the Assad regime in the town Jableh ambushed Syrian government forces sparking a series of retribution attacks that had killed around 1000 people, including many civilians, by Saturday evening. The initial attack and the reprisals took place in the Alawite heartland in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous and occurred at a time when the fledgling Syrian government is in talks with Kurdish and Druze minorities over their integration into the state. Over the last couple of days several competing narratives have emerged on social media around these events. Critics of the new Syrian government are generally painting these events as the product intolerant Islamic fundamentalists carrying out a campaign of sectarian motivated revenge killings while supporters are promoting a narrative of rebels loyal to the old regime, Iran, and Hezbollah starting trouble.

The “fog of war” has settled over the ongoing clashes and the truth probably lies somewhere in between. Most Western media outlets have painted the events through a lens of sectarian reprisal killings, but some on social media have challenged this narrative. I hope to write something more substantive about the history of sectarianism in the Levant later this week, but in the meantime I would like to share a couple of social media posts to demonstrate the competing narratives floating around X/Twitter where many analysts like to pontificate.

Joshua Landis is a professor of Middle East Studies at University of Oklahoma and an expert on Syria. He’s married to an Alawite and at times has been accused of down playing the Assad regime’s atrocities, however he is generally credible voice and offers a unique perspective on events in Syria.

Hassan is a Syrian journalist and researcher who has closely followed the Syrian conflict. He currently is an editor for Newlines magazine, one of my favorite sources of long form journalism. Hassan is one of my favorite and most trusted sources on Syria.

Abu Layla is a Syrian activist and ardent opponent of the Assad regime and generally has pushed back against accusations of sectarian conflict and pointed to evidence of atrocities carried out by the remnants of the Assad regime.

Israel, which has consistently moved in opposition to the new regime in Syria, came out criticizing the interim president al-Sharaa referencing his past ties with al-Qaeda and questioning his image overhaul. Personally, I don’t put to much stock in this take as Israel has its own agenda in Syria that appears to promote some type of partition.

Supporters of the new regime have blamed much of the criticism on Syrian regime on a misinformation campaign being orchestrated by Iran. I’ve seen others claim this is an insurrection backed by Russia. Here are some links to other reads that may give you a better handle of events in Syria.

Daniel Stoker
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Israelis, Palestinians, and Double Standards