Religious Tensions Flare in Syria After Desecration of Alawite Shrine

 

The Alawite shrine of Sheikh Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein Al-Khasibi in Maisaloon district of Aleppo was vandalized in a video that surfaced on December 25, 2024. The videos uncovered blatantly armed attack that left five guards’ corpses behind, defacement, and fires lit at the worship site. It has been viewed as posing a clear and imminent danger to the lives and rights to freedom of religion of one of the Syrian’s most vulnerable ethnic groups, the Alawite people.

For the Alawite population in Syria, Sheikh Al-Khasibi is known as the founder and the first Islamic leader of the Alawite faith, and so the shrine is one of the most important for the Alawites. The attack not only provoked sadness, but also fear among Alawites, for the latter feel insecure in the present socio-political context.Following the attack, there were widespread protests with no violence in different provinces in Syria such as Lattakia, Tartous and Homs. The protesters urged the authorities to provide more safeguards to the religious minority after they were outraged by the desecration of a holy site. On the streets slogans such as “Alawite, Sunni we want peace” could be heard which underlined a common belief among the population that political and sectarian conflict may lead to danger for all individuals.

It became worse when the General National Security forces were involved in confrontation with armed groups. Documentation reveals that the above-said confrontation has led to deaths of two guards and quadrennial injuries on the remaining security personnel. The rulers led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have been blamed for assaulting protesters in the name of hunting down criminals which has escalated the situation.Currently nongovernmental organizations and human rights activists have declared their concern over the rising incidents o intolerance towards the minority groups in Syria. Alawite, Druze, and Christian towns and villages have said that HTS members and associated foreign militants commit daily aggression against them. The bombing of the Al-Khasibi shrine is another sign of the growing terrorism and attempt to persecute the minorities which leads to the worsening of the religious freedom and human rights situation in/rest>People all over the world are asked to denounce these actions and to speak out in favour of the rights of minorities in Syria. Protections of the minorities have become critical for bringing about durable peace and security in Syrias. The recent occurrences have shown it to be high time for inclusion, whereby the identity of the Syrian society will be valued and protected.