Category: Syria

When the Assad regime fell, many feared that sectarian retribution and mass ethnic cleansing would ensue. Until last week, such abuses were limited to small spurts of random vigilantism rather than large-scale, organized violence. On March 6, however, former regime insurgents ambushed the transitional government’s security forces in the western coastal town of Jableh, killing 30 of them (with many later found burned to death or in shallow mass graves). In response, government forces and affiliated elements killed 396 civilians and disarmed militants, according to figures released by the Syrian Network for Human Rights earlier today. SNHR also reported that Assad remnants killed 383 people during this round of fighting—172 soldiers and 211 civilians. In all, 779 were killed, with the total death more than doubling since March 8. SNHR believes it will rise further as new evidence is uncovered in the coming days.

Most of the civilians killed by government forces were Alawites, though a few Christians have been confirmed dead as well. Those killed by former regime insurgents included Sunnis, Alawites, and Christians.

Making matters worse, the information environment has been polluted with false accounts and misleading “evidence” of what actually happened, making it difficult to separate truth from fiction. The U.S. State Department’s March 9 response was factually sound; it also rightfully condemned the targeting of minorities and called for holding perpetrators to account. Yet even that statement elided a key detail about the sequence of events—namely, that regime remnants triggered the killing, which then led to massacres by government forces and affiliates. As more information is unearthed in the coming weeks—including by the investigating committee that the new government quickly formed—officials will gain a better understanding of the full picture. Even in the interim, however, it is important to contextualize what led to this situation, untangle the thicket of disinformation, and assess how the new authorities and the international community might best deal with the immediate aftermath.

Click here to read the rest.