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The Islamist-led Interim Government in Syria has warned against acts of revenge targeting individuals accused of ties to former president Bashar al-Assad’s rule, following a wave of violence across the country.
Calls for revenge first came out from the governorate of Aleppo last week, specifically on June 11, after graffiti glorifying Assad were found in Tell Rifaat, a Sunni town in the northern countryside.
The situation turned deadly on June 14, when a mob murdered a man accused of being a financier of the previous regime in the town of Kafar Takharim in the governorate of Idlib. The man was beaten up, left on the street dying for several hours, then his body was thrown near a pile of trash — all while security forces were watching.
The unchecked crime encouraged more demonstrations in Aleppo, Idlib, as well as in the governorates of Deir Ezzor, Raqqa, Hama, and Homs — calling for accountability for so-called Assad “regime remnants”.
The violence even took a sectarian turn. Notices have circulated online and in some cities including Latakia, a heartland of the Alawite minority to whom the Assad family belongs, threatening alleged former “shabiha.”
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Addressing the issue, Interior ministry spokesperson Noureddine Al-Baba told a news conference later on the day that the government was committed to bringing people affiliated with the Assad regime to justice.
But “the state categorically rejects turning the demand for accountability into an act of revenge,” he said, adding that justice must be pursued through the legal system.
The spokesman said the “counter-terrorism department” was holding some 6,000 Assad-era military and security personnel.
Although the number includes dozens of high-ranking officers, around a quarter are foot soldiers — believed to have been surrounded on the day the regime fell and were kept in prison despite a promise of amnesty.
Interestingly, violence appeared to have escalated after the press conference. In the city of Palmyra in Homs, a mob stormed the properties of several people accused of being linked to the previous regime. Shops were looted, vehicles were set on fire, and casualties were reported after gun fire.
An even more serious situation was reported in Damascus with hundreds of people gathering in an attempt to attack Alawite neighborhoods, like Mazzeh 86 and al-Wuroud. The mob made sectarian chants, and called for displacing the community from the capital.
In no case any one involved in the violence or incitement was reported to have been arrested by security forces, despite the government warning.
This wave of violence began amid a slow, but noticeable, decline in the value of the Syrian pound, which lost over 20 percent of its value since the start of the year. Interestingly, amid the violence, the government passed a resolution cutting down the weight of standard bread bundles — a dietary staple.
Professor Joshua Landis, Co-Director of Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, linked the sudden violence to the Syrian government’s economic troubles.
“A classic populist strategy: Syrian government focuses public anger on minorities to divert its inability to fix the economy, stop inflation, or provide the rule of law,” he wrote on X, commenting on footage showing the sectarian mob that gathered in Damascus.
“Anti-Alawite demonstrations are permitted in Damascus even though they are illegal,” he noted.
Even before this wave of violence took off, more sectarian crimes were being reported in Syria. Two Shia men were murdered near Damascus and in Aleppo on June 13 and 14, respectively. An Alawite man was also shot and killed inside his shop near the capital on June 14.
While it is unclear who is exactly organizing these calls for revenge and acts of violence in Syria, the government appears to be doing nothing to actually stop them. Furthermore, there are clear attempts to capitalize on the violence, especially sectarian charged trends, as a way to dodge economic challenges.
For now, the government has largely managed to escape facing these issues, but with time, with no real economic improvement, people could reach a breaking point, where redirecting the blame and anger towards the previous regime will no longer work.
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