Four Alawite villagers killed as Syria seeks greater overseas support for stability

Clashes erupt between government forces and Kurds, while status of Druze population in Sweida remains unresolved

Syrian government security forces pictured in the southern province of Daraa. AFP

Gunmen killed four Alawite workers in central Syria at the weekend, sources told The National, in a continuation of communal violence as the country's leadership seeks greater international support to help stabilise the country.

The killings on Sunday in Al Ghab Plain in Hama governorate took place as tension rose between the government and Kurdish forces in Syria's northern Aleppo region.

In the south, the status of the mostly Druze governorate of Sweida remains unresolved, after intervention by Israel in July foiled what it claimed was a military takeover bid by the new Syrian authorities.

Sources from Syria's minority Alawite community said the four were construction workers who were killed in Jidreen, a village beside a cluster of Sunni communities in Al Ghab, one of a few fertile areas in the arid country.

"They worked pouring cement. Even the proletariat is not being spared," said Mohammad Al Zuaiter, an independent Alawite civil figure who was a political prisoner for several years under the previous Assad regime.

The Alawites were dominant in the area, and in Syrian politics, until the downfall of former president Bashar Al Assad in December after a lightning offensive by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, which ushered in Sunni political ascendancy and exposed the community to random retribution attacks. HTS is a splinter group from Al Qaeda.

At least 1,300 Alawites were killed in sectarian attacks by the government and allied militias in coastal areas, as well as Hama, in March. The government said those operations were aimed at destroying remnants of the previous regime but acknowledged violations had been committed.

Mr Al Zuaiter said most of the killings since appear to have been carried out by pro-government militias who are undermining Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara.

"They show that in reality Al Shara controls very few men and not much territory," he said, pointing out that the core of government forces comprises about 30,000 HTS fighters. Another 30,000 Turkish proxies, called the Syrian National Army, who joined the new Syrian military this year, remain primarily obedient to Ankara, Mr Zuaiter said.

Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani told CNN on Sunday that "every Syrian living in Syria should feel that he lives in his country with full rights and duties, and the state protects those rights".

Mass killings of Alawites have subsided but random killings are reported daily. In July, hundreds of Druze were killed in a government offensive to take control of Sweida. Even in the wake of the Israeli military intervention, Syrian government troops still surround the province, despite a deal brokered by the US to return to normality.

Sweida 24, a network of citizen journalists, reported on Monday that bakeries in Sweida have resumed operations after a four-day halt due to the unavailability of wheat at the weekend. A 200-tonne delivery by the International Food Programme later arrived from Damascus.

In another front with the Kurds in Aleppo governorate, state television said on Monday the mostly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces militia has been rounding up young men in Deir Hafir for forced conscription. Both the SDF and the government have accused each other in the past several days of killing seven civilians in the areas, and of trying to break through the frontier.

The escalation comes days after Mr Al Shara and his senior aides held a series of meetings last week with foreign leaders in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

Among them was a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a brief encounter with President Donald Trump.

Mr Rubio said the establishment of diplomatic relations between Damascus and Washington in May had created an opportunity "for Syria to build a stable and sovereign nation". No US aid pledges were made, however.