Europe must speak out in defense of Syria’s Alawites, says Sa’ar

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar calls on Europe to condemn Syria’s Islamist rulers amid reports of mass targeting of members of the minority Alawite community — and according to some, Christian — communities under interim Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s new government.

“Europe must make its voice heard loud and clear regarding the mass murder of Alawite and Christian civilians in Syria,” Sa’ar tells Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel, according to Sa’ar’s office.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor of unclear funding, says 973 civilians have died since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by security personnel or pro-government fighters in the coastal heartland of the Alawite community to which toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad belongs. According to Middle East Institute expert Charles Lister, as of yesterday, three Christian civilians have been killed in the violence, but there’s “zero evidence” Christians have been targeted.

“We are determined to prevent what we witnessed this weekend in Syria from happening on our own border,” Sa’ar says after his Jerusalem meeting with Bettel, referring to the recent clashes.

“Syria is home to thousands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives who seek to ignite our border and create an additional front against Israel,” Sa’ar continues. “We are resolute in preventing a recurrence of October 7 across all fronts… We will not allow the formation of a jihadist threat on our border with Syria.”

Sa’ar has repeatedly warned European leadership about Sharaa’s new regime. Yesterday, he called the government in Damascus “jihadists in suits,” speaking to German media.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist faction headed by Sharaa that led the campaign that toppled Assad, emerged from a group affiliated with al-Qaeda until it cut ties in 2016. A number of European nations have cautiously welcomed Sharaa, easing sanctions on Damascus, though HTS remains a proscribed group.