Syria

Analysis of intelligence documents reveals that family members spied on each other, teachers betrayed pupils — and ‘traitors’ were tortured and killed

Secret intelligence documents uncovered by The Sunday Times in Syria have revealed the terrifying extent of Bashar al-Assad’s Stasi-like surveillance state, where family members spied on each other and the slightest suspicion could result in ordinary people — including children — being swept into a network of prisons notorious for torture and executions, with victims buried in mass graves.

Thousands of files, written in neat biro or typed in formal Arabic, detail the way the regime has infiltrated protest and rebel groups since the revolution began in 2011. They reveal details about the vast network of informants that reported to the regime, and how the intelligence services forced the people they arrested to give up names of alleged collaborators — who would in turn be detained.

The foreign busybodies in the State Department, Foreign Office and the French foreign ministry, who are already now pressing for the reconstruction of a unitary Syrian state, should reflect on the country’s history. Syria was never meant to function as a unitary state. Nor under Sunni Arab majority rule, as it is likely to now.

The distinct national identities of its Alawite, Arab Christian-Orthodox, Druze, Kurdish, Armenian, Ismaili and Arab Shia populations were all recognised under Ottoman rule. And when France obtained the territory in 1919, it strove to accommodate plural identities by creating two separate states: an Alawite one in north-west Syria and a Druze one in the south-east.

Protester also shot dead after video showing desecration of ousted leader’s minority group shrine goes viral

Fourteen members of the Syrian police have been killed in an “ambush” by forces loyal to the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The officers died in the Tartus countryside in the west of the country, the transitional administration said early on Thursday, in the first major retaliation against the new rulers.

Mohammed Abdel Rahman, Syria’s new interior minister, said on Telegram that 10 police officers were also wounded by what he called “remnants” of the Assad government in Tartus, vowing to crack down on “anyone who dares to undermine Syria’s security or endanger the lives of its citizens”.

Thousands of people in Syria have taken to the streets to protest a video showing an attack on an Alawite shrine, which the new gov't says is “old” and republished by “unknown groups to stir up strife”. pic.twitter.com/2xjnQnyATc

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 26, 2024

Christians held protests across Syria after Islamists burned a Christmas tree, with demonstrators in Damascus vowing to defend themselves with arms if necessary.

Hundreds of protesters holding up crosses gathered in the Christian quarter of Bab Tuma in the capital, Damascus, after news of the fire in Suqaylabiyah, a Christian-majority town.

“Hold up your cross high,” they chanted. “We are your soldiers, Christ — the cross and the rifle are the two options.”

Earlier today, armed extremists set fire to a Christmas tree in Suqaylabiyah in Hama, Syria. Local channels say they were Uzbek militants.

HTS apologized for the incident and promised to deal with any future threats, but many Christians do not believe this will happen. pic.twitter.com/1Op98CUmTB

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) December 23, 2024

Christians marched through Syria's Damascus to demand protection for minorities after a Christmas tree was seen burning near Hama. pic.twitter.com/TSX1rrVIN4

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 24, 2024

The church bells still ring in Syria’s ancient Christian enclaves, but their sound carries a bittersweet resonance. Two weeks after the surprise fall of the regime of the Syrian tyrant, Bashar Al-Assad — toppled by an offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — Syrian Christians stand at a crossroads of hope and dread.

Promises of equality and protection from the new authorities have been met with cautious optimism. Yet fears of persecution and the erasure of a millennia-old Christian presence linger. For a community that has weathered centuries of upheaval, this moment feels as fragile as the cracked stone of their oldest churches, a nation reborn, but under whose terms?

Christians were protected under the Assad regime. Consequently some regard them as complicit in regime crimes.

The US has scrapped a $10m (£7.9m) reward for the arrest of Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).

Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf said the discussion with Sharaa was “very productive”, and he came across as “pragmatic”.

The US delegation arrived in the capital, Damascus, after HTS overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime less than a fortnight ago. Washington still designates it as a terrorist group.

AL-HAKEEM, Syria — The woman was clutching her infant, still in the dressing gown and pajamas she had been wearing a day earlier when fighters overran this village in Syria’s Latakia province, the heartland of Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority sect.

Her scorched home still radiated heat from the fires they had set. She hadn’t seen her husband since he fled into the citrus groves.

“We are dying from fear,” she said, standing outside the house, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. “It’s as though our hearts are in our hands.”