More than 1,000 people – many of them civilians – were "executed and killed in cold blood" in recent days, according to a Monday report from the United Kingdom-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Clashes between forces loyal to new Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa and deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad have led to the deaths of security force members and militants but also hundreds of civilians, NBC News reports. The violence has occurred mostly in the coastal areas of Tartus and Latakia, the home of the Alawite community, a small Shia Islamic sect to which the Assad family belongs, NBC adds.
After 50 years of rule by Assad ended with his overthrow last December, Syria is currently governed by al-Sharaa, a Sunni and formerly of ISIS.
“He’s not been reformed. He might have a better tailor and a better PR guy, but he’s very much still an ISIS guy,” Erik Prince, founder of the private security firm Blackwater, told American Family Radio Monday, referring to Al-Sharaa. (Editor's note: Blackwater is now known as Academi.]
“The Christians are the ones who have been paying the big price over the last months. This is another step in wiping out Christendom in the Middle East,” the security expert told show host Jenna Ellis.
Russia, Assad’s longtime ally, failed to protect him in December, and as al-Sharaa’s rise was backed by Turkey.
When regime change seemed inevitable, al-Sharaa in December ordered his men not to harm civilians and stop looting, though Syrians could be seen removing furniture and other items from Assad’s abandoned palaces and eyeing his fleet of luxury cars, NBC News reported.
Since the start of the new year, SOHR has documented what it says are 41 airstrikes carried out by Turkish drones in the north and the east. Monday it reported three children killed from one Turkish drone strike.
Turkey’s goal, Prince said, is to rebuild the Ottoman Empire which dominated the region centuries ago before its final holdings were divided into several different countries following World War I.
They would benefit from stability within an al-Sharra government, and al-Sharra has tried to rebrand himself as a unifier willing to turn away from his extremist past. In February, a video surfaced showing him waving from the sunroof of a black vehicle, surrounded by a jubilant crowd during his first visit to Latakia, where he appeared to receive a hero’s welcome, NBC News reports.
Not a catalyst for WWIII
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in their infamous Oval Office visit a week and a half ago that the Ukrainian leader was “gambling with World War III.”
Prince, however, argued such global conflict won’t be determined by Syria – but will depend on moves made by Russia, or perhaps China should they decide to attack Taiwan.
“The Middle East will continue to boil, and Christians will continue to suffer. It’s sad, but unfortunately, it’s inevitable. That area has been boiling for millennia and will probably continue to do so,” he said.
The next domino to fall in “Turkish expansionism” could be Jordan, according to Prince.
Are Turks eyeing more land in Middle East?
Syria borders Israel to the northeast. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north and Israel to the west.
Israel has a complex but hospitable relationship with Jordan currently. There are economic agreements in place that benefit both countries, and Jordan was among the nation’s responding to intercept Iranian drone strikes against Israel in April of last year.
“Jordan is being almost forced, arm-twisted to take more Palestinians out of Gaza which the Israelis have made uninhabitable. It makes them even weaker politically, and I can see the Turks stimulating additional Palestinian resentment and trying to absorb Jordan next,” Prince suggested.
