The country has experienced an uptick in violence and mass murder of ethnoreligious minorities
Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, stated that Russia and the US are communicating regarding the situation in Syria. The war-torn country has seen a rapid escalation of violence in recent days, with reports of hundreds of civilian deaths.
Nebenzia told reporters on Monday that all UN Security Council members share similar concerns about the situation in Syria, and that Moscow and Washington are in communication regarding the matter.
“The Council was united in what we discussed today, everyone spoke out. I wouldn’t say with one voice, but everyone emphasized the same elements: the inadmissibility of what happened, the mass murders, and violence,” Nebenzia told reporters.
Earlier that day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov expressed Moscow’s concern about the increased violence in Syria and urged immediate action. “Many nations and international organizations, including the UN, share our concern,” Peskov stated.
The Syrian government collapsed in late 2024 after a surprise offensive by militant forces against then-President Bashar Assad led to the capture of Damascus within days. The Syrian military disintegrated during the offensive and has since been replaced by new security forces made up of various former jihadist groups.
The situation in coastal Syria worsened last week with clashes between the new security forces and local militias, which Western media outlets have described as loyal to former President Bashar Assad. The violence is concentrated in areas inhabited by Alawites, an ethnoreligious group to which the former president belongs. While often referred to as an Islamic sect, Alawites are viewed negatively by hardline Islamists, who consider them apostates deserving of extermination.
Numerous graphic videos circulating online allegedly depict militants from the new security forces torturing and executing civilians, including women and children, in public. At least 1,300 people, including over 800 civilians, have been reportedly killed in the cities of Latakia and Tartus in the past three days. Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria’s de-facto leader and former head of the jihadist force HTS, has condemned the violence and vowed to hold those who harm civilians accountable.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has condemned “radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis” for massacring members of Syrian minority groups, including Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Kurds. The EU, on the other hand, attributed the situation to “pro-Assad elements” attacking “interim government forces” and condemned “all violence against civilians,” without assigning blame to any specific party.
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