Syrian human rights activist Ribal al-Assad tore into Europe for lifting sanctions against the nation’s new “terrorist” regime, which he warned is no better than his first cousin, ousted leader Bashar al-Assad.
After days of bloodshed, Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, leader of the forces that overthrew Assad, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), on Thursday signed a temporary constitution putting the country under Islamist rule for at least five years.
But al-Sharaa’s government has gone on a “revenge killing spree,” going after low-level officers who had been conscripted into Assad’s armed forces, along with Alawite and Christian minorities, among others, according to al-Assad.
“They couldn’t have refused [military service]. Those who refused were put in jails,” he said, adding that any high-level officers in Assad’s forces had fled the country.
RELIGIOUS SLAUGHTER IN SYRIA SHOWS NEED FOR US, EUROPE TO ‘KEEP A CLOSE EYE’ ON ISLAMIST REGIME: GREEK FM
People wave guns in the air as they gather to celebrate the fall of the Syrian regime in Umayyad Square Dec. 8 in Damascus, Syria. (Ali Haj Suleiman/Getty Images)
While much of Syria was happy to see the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, religious and ethnic minorities have remained skeptical of the new leadership once tied to al Qaeda.
Ribal al-Assad insisted the new regime is “an Islamic caliphate. They want a theocracy. They want to replace a dictatorship with cult, as it happened in Iran 45 years ago.”
He said Christians were caught up alongside Alawites in the revenge spree because “Christians and Alawites live together. In my town, we have Christians who live there. We’ve always, lived … side by side, and they celebrate holidays together.”
In December, the Biden administration removed the longtime bounty on the head of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Europe suspended a range of sanctions on the new Syrian government late last month, though the U.S. still has many other punitive financial measures in…
