US demands answers from new Syrian government after reports of attacks on minorities

After tacitly recognizing the new Syrian government mostly led by representatives of the Islamist Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, the United States, in recent days, has demanded explanations following numerous reports of violent attacks on minorities in the country, the Axios news outlet reported.

Over the past few days, several videos widely circulating on social media purportedly graphically showed Islamist groups and former rebels mistreating and murdering minorities, particularly Alawites, who were the main population group supporting and staffing the Assad regime in Syria.

According to Axios, citing U.S. officials, State Department envoy Daniel Rubinstein traveled to Damascus and met temporary Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shibani on Sunday.

Rubinstein expressed concerns over the reports during the meeting and stated the U.S. position that they must be halted. Al-Shibani, himself a member of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) – the rebel group that overthrew the dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad – reportedly replied that the new government is opposed to such violence, claiming that other militant groups were responsible.

Rubinstein also asked for details about the government’s plans to hold elections after HTS de-facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Jolani), said it could take as long as four years.

The broad rebel coalition that toppled the Assad regime earlier this month was spearheaded by HTS, which remains a designated terror group and itself is a coalition of several other groups, including radical Islamist organizations. Among its main allies is the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), which also includes radical jihadist groups.

Axios cited another U.S. official saying that the United States recognizes the new government is trying to gain control and stability in the country by dissolving all militias, including HTS, and putting the armed forces under the command of a reorganized ministry of defense and a new Syrian army.

The official also cautioned that if the government failed to do so, an increase in violence could lead to a resurgence of Assadist loyalists, or even the remaining ISIS cells in the Eastern desert.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said the dialogue with HTS and the new Syrian government would continue, after being “productive” so far. The U.S. also canceled the $10 million bounty for al-Sharaa last week.

“We believe HTS should respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Syrians, including members of minority groups and women. We will be continuing to watch and see that actions match words,” the spokesman told Axios.

An official told Axios that the State Department is investigating the videos showing HTS or government-affiliated gunmen mistreating minorities.

According to Charles Lister, an expert on Syria at the Middle East Institute, many of the videos circulating in recent days are old footage or show Assadist loyalists pretending to be HTS fighters in order to loot and abuse civilians.

“From rural Damascus, through Homs, Hama and into Tartus & Latakia, former Assad regime operatives have also launched deadly ambushes on HTS fighters – triggering capture/kill raids against multiple senior regime warlords implicated in horrific crimes,” he wrote on 𝕏.

In the most serious incident of this kind so far, the new government said 14 of its troops were ambushed and killed in the Western Alawite-dominated part of the country.

Ten others are said to have been wounded in fighting near the port of Tartus, triggering an operation in the province to “restore security, stability and civil peace,” according to the state news outlet SANA.

The UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said a former regime officer, Mohammed Kanjo Hassan, had been arrested together with 20 others on Thursday.

Israel, meanwhile, closely follows the actions of the new government on its eastern border. After a call with Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs Giorgos Gerapetritis, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said they discussed the situation in Syria.

“I underscored the need to urgently safeguard Syria's minorities, including the Kurds, Alawites and Christians. I added that the new government in Damascus was not democratically elected. But even more troubling: they are now proclaiming that elections will take place only after 4 years,” Sa’ar said.