Syria is experiencing its deadliest outbreak of violent clashes since the new government took power three months ago. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights more than 1,300 people have been killed in the country’s coastal region, including at least 830 members of the Alawite minority, to which ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad also belongs. Observers accuse government affiliated security forces of massacres. Europe’s press voices concern.
Doubts about the government’s intentions
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The Neue Zürcher Zeitung questions whether interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa will fulfil his promises (Switzerland):
“Now, the former militia leader should lose no more time and start making good on his announcements. Syria is home to numerous competing religious and ethnic groups with scores to settle. The conflicts between these groups are becoming increasingly apparent. ... The fact that Sharaa has not yet implemented many of his pledges is contributing to the hesitation of Western states in particular to lift the sanctions - and is fuelling growing resentment in Syria. There is reason to suspect that Sharaa is not entirely sincere about his promises of inclusion and equality and is far more interested in consolidating his own power.”
Stop the bloodshed now
Syria is facing a new phase of fierce internal conflict, warns De Volkskrant (Netherlands):
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“Various fundamentalist and other militant groups, as well as neighbouring Israel, Turkey and Iran, also have reasons to sabotage a strong new Syrian state. ... [Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa] has won the trust of the international community for the time being with his promise of a government of unity in which women, Druze, Christians and Alawites will all have a place. He will lose this support immediately if he does not succeed in stopping the ethnic violence against innocent citizens in his country. In that case a new civil war will not be long in coming.”
Many want to see the new state fail
Der Standard (Austria) is not surprised by the upsurge in violence:
“It was a predictable catastrophe. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime three months ago, which came as a complete surprise to supporters and opponents alike, Alawite Assad followers had little choice but to retreat to their ancestral homelands on the Mediterranean coast around Latakia. It was only to be expected that they wouldn’t surrender to the new rulers’ questionable justice system without a fight. ... Clearly, external forces that lost power together with Assad - Iran and its vassals such as the Lebanese Hezbollah - also have a vested interest in the new Syria failing.”
Damascus needs a monopoly of power
The new rulers must enforce law and order, The Spectator (UK) urges:
“Without law and order, civil wars don’t just end. They bleed on and out, into the events that follow. Violence of this kind is dangerous: it threatens the country’s very survival. The new powers that be in Damascus cannot allow this violence to continue and to spread. ... True peace must mean civic peace, and civic peace requires a monopoly of violence. Now many groups across the country, Kurds in the north and east, Druze in the south, will hold their weapons all the tighter. ... The events of this week have set Syria’s pursuit of peace and reconstruction back who knows how far.”
International action vital
Political scientist Nikolay Mitrokhin (Russia) has seen the latest videos from Syria and fears on Facebook that the worst is yet to come:
“A genocide is now being prepared there. ... There are already more than 30 videos of shootings. Some of them show empty, freshly dug mass graves (more like trenches) designed for hundreds of victims, with only a few scattered bodies lying in them. Immediate international intervention is necessary, otherwise it will be too late.”
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