It’s been nearly a week since the stunning collapse of the Assad regime.
The end of more than half a century of brutal dictatorship in Syria is—to state the obvious—a major geopolitical moment. It has embarrassed Tehran; caught Washington off guard; and upended many assumptions about the region.
The fallout is only beginning. In Damascus, the victorious Islamist rebels are attempting to consolidate political power. In a video message Friday, their leader Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, congratulated “the great Syrian people for the victory of the blessed revolution” and invited them “to head to the squares to show their happiness without shooting bullets and scaring people.”
But there’s more to the story than simply a nation rejoicing—however welcome Bashar al-Assad’s departure may be. Many are worried that the latest chaos could allow for the reemergence of ISIS—which explains why America hit ISIS camps in Syria with airstrikes earlier this week. Meanwhile, in the north of the country, Turkish-backed rebels are fighting U.S.-backed Kurds. And in southwestern Syria, Druze villages are voting to request that Israel annex their territory. Indicators of a nation—and a region—in flux.
Among those anxiously wondering what comes next are Syria’s 500,000 Christians.
For her report for The Free Press today, Madeleine Rowley spoke to Syrian Christians who are worried about the future. One of them is Elias, a 21-year-old living in Berlin but whose family is in Damascus. “If anything happens to us, do not come back to Syria,” his mother told him in a voice message earlier this week. “Do not come to bury us.”
Elias fears the worst. “We have no reason to trust al-Jolani,” he tells The Free Press. “He is a terrorist.”
Read Madeleine Rowley’s full story on what’s next for Syria’s Christians here.
Many of those looking forward with trepidation are also looking back with horror. In the days since the fall of Assad, the extent of the evil of his regime has come into focus. Nowhere is that clearer than in Sednaya—the regime’s most notorious prison, torture complex, and death camp.
This week, Syrians flocked there to search for missing loved ones—and for a full accounting of the regime’s violent brutality. Our cameraman was among those crowds and, in collaboration with The Center for Peace Communications, we gained unprecedented access to Sednaya and heard from survivors of this factory of death.
Click here to watch our exclusive, firsthand look inside Assad’s most notorious prison.
In Israel we have been seeing the footage of these horrifying prisons.
Unspeakable things happened there and some Syrians will never know what happened to their family members. On a human level I can feel empathy for them but I am a realist and know that most of them have no love for me and mine.
I am so pleased that the IDF is destroying all Syria's military assets and that we have taken over part of the Syrian Golan as a temporary defensive measure. (And fuck the French and the UN for objecting.)
I remain concerned about the Christians, Kurds and the Druze. The latter want to come over into Israel - maybe they should.
We can be grateful that Israel has been destroying Syria's chemical weapons and other capabilities. The chances that the next Syrian govt. will be a tolerant one are effectively zero.
There is no sense of Syrian identity in the way there is an Egyptian or Iranian one. The HTS, lead by Jolani, has made claims about representing "Syrian Nationalism." But that's BS. The only significant operative cohesive force in Syria is Sunni Islamic fundamentalism. So that is what they will ultimately appeal to.
The other factions in Syria don't stand a chance:
Alawites (Assad's group) -- 10% of the population. They are considered apostates by Sunni fundamentalists and will probably be slaughtered. A lot of people want revenge for 50 years of oppression, too.
Kurds -- about 15% of the country and theoretically the best chance for a tolerant government. But as soon as they get a foothold, Turkey will step in and crush them, per its longstanding policy to prevent any unitary Kurdish entity.
SNA - backed by Turkey; they are a spoiler that will focus on fighting Kurds and HTS, but is too small to ever win.
US & Jordan backed rebels -- much too small a force to achieve anything.
As a curious historical aside, note that the Baath Party, which ran Syria for decades, was founded by a .... Christian (Michel Aflaq). At the time, "Arab Socialism" was the rallying point, and religious affiliation was played down.