Understanding the Systematic and Spectacular Killing of Syria’s Alawites
DARAJ (Lebanese website)
April 4, 2025
Symbolic violence against Alawites became a vessel for collective psychological release, Daraj argues.
Symbolic violence against Alawites became a vessel for collective psychological release, Daraj argues.
Regarding the U.S. military presence in Syria, the State Department affirmed that no decision has been made about withdrawing American forces.
Syria’s transitional government embodies a profound paradox: it is both the fruit of revolutionary achievement and the object of revolutionary expectation.
The Secretariat will oversee domestic political activities, participate in formulating national policies, and manage the assets of the dissolved Ba’ath Party and former ruling coalition, al-Modon reports.
Syria’s fragile post-conflict transition was shaken this week by a series of brutal armed attacks that left at least 13 civilians dead, Zaman al-Wasl writes.
The transitional authority is not reconstructing the state, but reconstituting obedience as a totalising structure, Malik al-Hafez argues.
Israeli intelligence believes that Syria’s new government is working to restore military installations and missile systems in the country’s south, Shaam writes.
The UAE has yet to send a high-level delegation to Syria, but the dynamics is shifting, Enab Baladi writes.
The new cabinet, composed of 22 ministers, reflects a blend of technocrats, returnees from the diaspora, symbolic minority figures, and key holdovers from the interim ruling coalition dominated by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham.
The new authorities have shown clear discomfort with political parties, preferring instead to engage with citizens as representatives of regions or local communities, Hussam Jazmati writes in Syria TV.
Before Assad’s fall, the 4th Division, led by Maher al-Assad, facilitated smuggling in exchange for bribes. But informal crossings are still very much present, Jana Duhaibi writes.
Diplomatic sources say Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are expected to meet in Ankara soon to discuss a bilateral defense agreement, Syria TV writes.
Analysts and former officials have noted that PKK-linked figures, many of whom are non-Syrians from Turkey or Iran, continue to hold sensitive leadership roles within the SDF’s intelligence branches and special forces, Enab Baladi writes.
Maysa Sabrin was appointed in December 2024, shortly after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, becoming the first woman to head the Central Bank.
Koya is a border town located in a highly sensitive area near the occupied Golan Heights, which made it a flashpoint in ongoing regional tensions.
Foreign fighters are not viewed as political liabilities by jihadist leaders, but as ideological safeguards, Malek Hafez argues.
Alawite Syrians stood on the periphery of the national dream, entangled in a dense net of state-manufactured illusions and fears, Wael Sawah writes.
Faced with chronic fuel shortages and an international reluctance to sell oil to Syria, the Damascus administration appears to have turned to Moscow as a substitute for Iranian oil, al-Modon writes.
Sources have noted Israeli security consultations regarding Syria’s shifting landscape, particularly the possible transfer of areas near Palmyra to Turkish control in exchange for economic and military support for Damascus, Shaam writes.
Putin’s message may serve to distance Moscow from accusations of supporting attempts by regime loyalists to reclaim power.
