Writers for Peace Committee EDITION # 14 JANUARY 2026
SYRIA’S NEW RULERS TURN HOPE INTO TURMOIL AS SECTARIAN
TENSIONS BOIL OVER
By Yahya Alaous (PEN Syria)
Syria has been undergoing dramatic upheavals since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad late last year and the takeover of power in Damascus by the Sunny Islamist group Hay’at Thair al-Sham (HTS). The group and its leader—once a senior figure within al-Qaeda—were welcomed in Damascus as heroes. This was not only because Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, now known by his real name Ahmad al-Shar’a, seized power from Assad with international consent and Turkish backing, but also because he toppled an Alawite dictator—a sect historically aligned with the Shiites and long at odds with the Sunni majority. That sectarian element became the secretkey that allowed the new leader to settle into the presidential palace while crowds of supporters chanted beneath its balcony. Despite the rumours and unanswered
questions surrounding his rise and the surprising ease of his military take-over, al-Shar’a has not turned his back on the hardline militants who fought alongside him. He rewarded his long-time jihadi comrades with influential military and political posts and promised foreign jihadists Syrian citizenship in recognition of their years of fighting by his side. Most of these fighters are Sunni extremists committed to reviving an Islamic caliphate, and they hail from countries unwilling to take them back. The first months after Assad’s fall were marked by widespread optimism and hopes for peace in a country exhausted by 15 years of war. But the new authorities quickly launched retaliatory campaigns against the Alawite community following limited attacks on their forces by remnants of the old regime.
These operations resulted in the killing of more than 1,400 civilians within months of HTS’s rise to power. Although the transitional authorities appointed a government committee to investigate the massacres, the final report was evasive and avoided implicating key perpetrators. This fuelled deep fears among Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities that further revenge attacks were looming—a fear that materialized in July 2025, when government-backed sectarian violence was responsible for a violent massacre against Druze civilians in Sweida, killing nearly 2,000 unarmed residents. Israel intervened militarily to halt the slaughter, further complicating an already volatile political scene.
The growing mistrust between minorities and the new rulers stems not only from revenge attacks but also from the administration’s increasingly authoritarian mindset. Last March, al-Shar’a issued a constitutional declaration granting himself sweeping powers over judicial and legislative appointments—without any oversight. He also awarded himself the authority to appoint one-third of parliament’s members, effectively ensuring his total control over the legislature. This raised profound concerns about the erosion of the rule of law and the protection of human rights. The president defended these extraordinary powers as necessary for Syria’s transitional phase—even though, in practice, they pave the way for a new dictatorship rather than a democratic transition.
He further consolidated control over the judiciary by giving himself the exclusive right to appoint all seven members of the “Supreme Constitutional Court,” without parliamentary or institutional checks— eliminating any mechanism to ensure judicial independence. In the education sector, the situation is even more troubling. Gender segregation has been imposed in schools, and the government continues building mosques instead of classrooms and laboratories. With loyalists appointed across public institutions—including unions and professional associations such as the Writers’ Union and the Journalists’ Syndicate—the interim authorities steadily tighten their grip on all state organs. Yet the most dangerous shift of all may be the rise of a Sunni leader with a jihadi background after decades of minority rule, which has emboldened thousands of conservative Sunnis. This has revived the dreams of a new Umayyad-style caliphate which is a hereditary monarchy where power remained within the Umayyad family, with an emphasis on strong central rule, Arab leadership, and an imperial style of governance. This surge in religious zeal has pushed many toward extremist Salafi ideologies-
(the hardline interpretations of Islam that go beyond mainstream Salafism, promoting rigid beliefs, intolerance, and sometimes the use of violence to enforce their views) and marginalizing secular voices and civil society activists. In just one-year, Syrian society has shifted from relative moderation to a state of religious radicalization—an alarming trajectory that threatens to ignite new rounds of sectarian and communal violence.
