[Field Story] Reuters: "1,500 killed in Syrian government's March sectarian massacre"

A foreign media outlet reported that the number of victims of the massacre of Muslim minority sects led by the Syrian interim government in March reached approximately 1,500. The interim government is suppressing the Alawites, who were the support base of the former Assad dictatorship.

On the 30th, Reuters reported that "According to a Reuters investigation, after the Assad regime's loyalist rebellion (March 7-9), sectarian massacres took place in 40 places for three days, with killings, looting, and arson," and that "about 1,500 Alawites (a minority sect) were killed and dozens went missing." At the time, armed forces supporting the Assad dictatorship, which was ousted in December of last year, clashed with Syrian interim government forces in Latakia and Tartus provinces on the western coast of Syria. After the Assad-loyal militias were suppressed, a retaliatory massacre of the Alawites took place.

According to reports, 12 factions, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a military organization that led the collapse of the Assad regime in December of last year, participated in the massacre. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is suspected of being linked to the international terrorist group Al Qaeda and is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and other countries. In addition, Sunni militias that have been in conflict with the Alawites since the Assad dictatorship took part in the massacre. As the Assad regime, which belonged to the Alawite sect, excluded or suppressed the Sunnis, who make up the majority of the population, from the government, the Sunnis grew discontent with the Alawites.

The fighters who participated in the massacre gathered in the capital Damascus and Aleppo and then headed west, chanting slogans such as “Murder the Alawites” and “Sunnis, Sunnis.” Some warlords killed entire families by sharing the surnames of the victims, or asked citizens whether they were Sunni or Alawite to distinguish between their targets. Reuters reported that “in dozens of villages where Alawites mainly lived, entire families, including women, children, the elderly, and the disabled, were killed. In one village, 45 of the 253 dead were women, and in another, 10 of the 30 were children.”

Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa has established a committee to investigate the truth of the massacre and mediate peace.

(omitted)

Source: Nate News

With my voice I cry out to the Lord; with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord. (Psalm 142:1)

God, we pray to you for the Syrian people who are still crying out in death and suffering, even though the long civil war has ended.

Lord, have mercy on the Syrian people!

Many people have already suffered and died due to the civil war, and now, with the sectarian massacres leading to murder, looting, and arson, many unfortunate lives are being lost.

Lord, remember the souls of Syria and come into the land as the savior of the Syrian people!

Please help those who are blinded by the lies of Islam and serve as slaves to sin to no longer play the role of leaders among the Syrian people, and let the Syrian interim government and Sunni realize how great a sin it is to lightly kill and harm lives due to sectarian issues!

Lord, now, let those who led this massacre hear the gospel, come before you, repent, and turn to devote the rest of their lives to praising you and leading many lives to you, and let history come to pass so that they become people who are zealous for Yeshua!

In addition, there are Christians who remain in the land of Syria who do not abandon their love and faith in you even at the risk of death. When they cry out to the Lord, please work even louder than prayers, and through them, may the Muslims of Syria and those who have not turned back to the Lord return!

So that numerous churches in Syria may rise again, and may a new history begin to change the spiritual atmosphere of Syria into a powerful church that rises stronger and is victorious in any tribulation and persecution! Now, may new grace and revival overflow in the land of Syria!