Alawites

Germany Reopens Embassy in Syria: Foreign Ministry

Germany officially reopened its embassy in Syria on Thursday, a foreign ministry source said, with a small diplomatic team working in Damascus. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ordered the reopening of the mission which had closed in 2012 amid the Syrian civil war, some three months after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad. Consular affairs ...

The “Old Man” and Violence

One can only be horrified by the atrocities that have recently unfolded in the “Alawite country,” just a few hundred kilometers from our television screens. In the age of smartphones, the images have reached us, more graphic and harrowing than ever before. The interim Syrian president, Ahmad al-Shareh, has promised an investigation and the ...

The Alawites of Syria, Caught in the Death Corridor

Finally, my phone rings. From the depths of the device come harsh, lifeless words—like the bodies piled in the morgues of Jableh, choking the air on the roads of Latakia, or swallowed by yawning pits. Barely are these words spoken, barely written, when a distant, frantic finger on the other end of the line, in Syria, erases them. I ...

The Alawites: Marginalized Legacy Bearers of a Mysterious Tradition

The recent escalation of tensions along the Syrian coastline raises critical questions. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), since March 6, nearly 973 civilians, predominantly Alawites, have been killed in Tartous and Latakia, located in western Syria, where this religious minority is concentrated. The global Alawite ...

Syrian Forces Launch Security Sweep in Homs

Syrian security forces are conducting an operation in Homs city, state media reported on Thursday, with a monitor saying it targeted two districts that are home to the Alawite minority of toppled president Bashar al-Assad. "The Ministry of Interior, in cooperation with the Military Operations Department, begins a wide-scale combing operation in ...

Syria Monitor Reports 9 Dead in Clashes Over Attempted Arrest of Assad-Era Official

A Syria war monitor said nine people were killed Wednesday in clashes in Tartus province after security forces sought to arrest an officer under deposed leader Bashar al-Assad who was linked to a notorious prison. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said "six members of the General Security force" of Syria's new ...