Syrian Regime Ally Hezbollah Threaten Sweida Peaceful Protesters Via Mayadin TV With ISIS Footage from 2018 Massacre Manipulated by Assad and Russia

Ronan L Tynan

Since mass peaceful protests broke out in Syria a few weeks ago centred on Sweida many have speculated when and how President Bashar al-Assad would seek to crush them. Now it appears that Hezbollah has hinted in a veiled threat on its Mayadin TV that ISIS maybe used as the weapon once again? The well known Syria specialist the academic Thomas Pierret posted a tweet which broke the story though it seems to have got no attention! But the message is clear. Hezbollah rattled by criticism of Iran repeatedly at these protests with the constant demand that Assad must go because of his atrocitoes and repression, have more than hinted how the Syrian regime might respond?

Many looking at the protests in Sweida, the home of the Druze minority, and many other towns in Syria have marvelled at the incredible courage of the people taking to the streets given the horror visited on those who bravely took part in the peaceful uprising in 2011. But most observers, and especially Syrians who have seen first hand how the regime disappeared, tortured, gassed, starved and massacred their loved ones have apparently little doubt Assad will seek to crush these protests.

But how? The latest story clearly confirms “the ISIS solution” is high on the agenda! This only serves to confirm recent rumours and specualtion. In an analysis of the evolving protests published by the Harmoon Centre in Istanbul in early September, there was a reference to the Assad regime using “the threat of ISIS” against these protesters which has a chilling resonance in Sweida. That is no surprise given the success of an orchestrated ISIS massacre by the Assad regime and Russia in 2018. More recently evidence has emerged that a repeat of that strategy maybe underway. This was offered by Leila Nachawati for elDiario.es reporting in Sweida also in early September suggesting that movements of regime military personnel in the area resonate with the aforementioned ISIS massacre:

“Activists in Sweida suspect that Assad’s forces have begun to vacate their posts with the goal of making way for ISIS combatants to enter their territory. “If the extremists make their way into the city, it will be easy for Assad to initiate another one of his military campaigns with the excuse of finishing off ISIS, but all of us know that his goal is, and always has been, to finish off the free men and women of Syria,” asserts Rime Allaf.”

This use of ISIS by Assad and Russia to threaten opposition areas was highlighted by Dr Lina Khatib, the former head of the Middle East and African division at Chatham House and now a professor at SOAS, immediately after that savage massacre by ISIS in Sweida in 2018. The media reported that atrocity simply as an ISIS massacre in which 200 were murdered. This is not surprising given Assad’s track record in using Jihadis to try to cover or offer pretexts for his atrocities. For example, he released hardened Jihadi terrorists from his prisons in 2011 to try to poison the opposition, a number of whom went to become prominent in ISIS and other terror groups, underlining he and his regime are highly skilled in the manipulation of these Jihadis.

In 2018 like now Assad was very unhappy with the Druze minority because his regime and Russia were trying to take back opposition held areas, and the Druze were initially divided on their approach to the conflict. Some of the Druze religious leaders at the time sided with the Syrian regime as the safest way in which to protect their community. Other leaders called the ‘Sheikhs of Dignity’ advocated a much more cautious stance arguing for the complete dissociation from the conflict. However, as Dr Lina Khatib pointed out after the assassination of one of the most prominent of ‘Sheiks of Dignity’ by Assad in 2015, Sheikh Wahid al-Bal’ous, proved to be decisive. “The assassination spurred the rest of the Sheikhs of Dignity to call on the community to take up arms for self-protection, but not to participate in the war.”

Throughout the conflict the Druze have maintained an independent stance and looked after their own security. They did not become involved with either the regime or any opposition forces. They also were able to handle their own economic affaires and the provision of food and oil. Most Druze young men refused to be conscripted by Assad to fight their fellow Syrians and remained in Sweida to defend their own province.

But Assad did not ignore Sweida. As pro-regime militias formed to fight with his regime in the south he allowed them to form checkpoints to intimidate and terrorise the Druze entering or leaving Sweida with regime checkpoints further back. This was a form of punishment for not joining regime forces. But the regime was further angered by the failure of the Druze to participate in attacks on Eastern Ghouta and Yarmouk which witnessed serious atrocities by both regime military and pro-regime militias.

But the way the regime used ISIS as a form of punishment in 2018 is especially instructive as Dr Lina Khatib pointed out: “As part of its campaign in the Yarmouk basin, the regime, with Russia’s help, evacuated members of ISIS to the eastern desert on the border of Iraq and Syria. It is from this desert that ISIS fighters advanced to Sweida to conduct the massacre. Although ISIS attacked some regime checkpoints in the process, pro-regime forces largely left ISIS alone as it proceeded in its attack.”

Will this prove to be another example of how the failure to secure accountability allows Assad and all war criminals in Syria to repeat atrocities so easily and with impunity?

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RONAN L TYNAN is Director of Bringing Assad To Justice the multi award winning Esperanza Productions feature documentary produced by ANNE DALY.