The fights between the troops of the Assad regime and Syrian rebels seemed to have come to an end when rebel troops took over Syria’s capital, Damascus, and President Bashar al-Assad fled from the country and fled to Moscow. The victory has just been achieved, but the terrorist organization al-Qaeda has already urged the rebel forces to target “Jews and Crusaders.” Crusader, in this context, is a derogatory term referring to Christians.

The Assad regime was responsible for many crimes against human rights, ranging from arbitrary imprisonment to the use of chemical weapons. However, human rights abuses are not unknown to some of the rebel groups fighting against the regime. Not all the rebel groups have Islamist extremist views, but one of the most prominent of them, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), is listed as a terrorist organization and has ties to al-Qaeda.

Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, leader of HTS, has an affiliation with ISIS and al-Qaeda that is proven; however, in a recent statement, he presented a more moderate view than before.

“No-one has the right to erase another group. [Different religious groups] have co-existed in this region for hundreds of years, and no-one has the right to eliminate them,”

said Jolani in an interview with CNN. Even with Assad gone, the time of fear and uncertainty is not over for the minorities in Syria, especially with voices like al-Qaeda being present that want to make them the targets of violence.

Source: Barnabs Aid

Photo: Mario Donadoni