Syria Under Julani: A Genocidal Regime Exposed

The Syrian tragedy has taken many shapes over the last 14 years — from protests, to insurgency, to a proxy war fueled by global powers. But what we are witnessing now may be its most gut-wrenching phase: the violent unravelling of Syrian society from within, under the oppressive hand of Abu Mohammad al-Julani and his HTS/Nusra-linked regime.

Julani, once viewed by some as a potential alternative to Assad, had a rare and critical opportunity. He could have proven the Syrian regime’s narrative wrong, shown mercy, justice, and inclusivity, and perhaps shepherded a new beginning. Instead, he chose the path of bloodshed and sectarian purging.

The Alawites were his first victims. Entire towns in Homs and Hama were emptied of their residents. This wasn’t war—it was ethnic cleansing. Julani’s forces, echoing a genocidal rhetoric publicly aired by their own fighters, did not merely conquer—they annihilated. Alawite farms were handed over to investors and corporations. Similarly, in the coastal cities, families were erased, communities destroyed, and a precedent of extermination was set.

Next came the Kurds. Branded as “pigs,” dehumanized in the ugliest of terms, they faced the same kind of targeted aggression. The pattern repeated: hate speech, incitement, and then violence. What began as a “democratic revolution” has mutated into a genocidal campaign against Syria’s rich mosaic of peoples.

Now, Julani’s focus turns toward the Druze — a small, deeply rooted religious minority. Following an obscure and offensive video allegedly made by a Druze individual, Julani’s forces responded not with surgical justice, but with wholesale repression. Entire Druze neighbourhoods in Damascus suburbs like Sahnaya were emptied. Religious leaders were humiliated, men and women detained, and atrocities carried out under the watch of a regime that insists it represents governance.

In this nightmare, irony is not lost. Israel, long accused of backing various factions in Syria to advance its own strategic aims, has now bombed Julani’s forces — reportedly to defend the Druze. Druze citizens of Israel, many of them in the military, are pressuring Tel Aviv to protect their Syrian brethren. It is a surreal alignment: minorities under attack in Syria looking to historic adversaries for protection, because their own homeland has become unrecognizable.

For over a decade, I opposed the federalist approach to Syria’s future, believing in a unified nation under one constitution. But now, I concede that federalism may be the best-case scenario. That’s how deep the wounds have become — so deep that the very idea of unity now feels like a fantasy.

Yet even federalism is being denied. What Julani seems to desire is full balkanization: a patchwork of hostile mini-states ruled by force, fear, and religious absolutism. This vision of Syria is not just dystopian—it is existentially dangerous for every minority, and even for Sunni communities who reject his ideology.

The support for Julani comes from a narrow base: radical Salafists, extremists, and foreign jihadists. The broader Syrian Sunni population — in Aleppo, in Damascus — do not embrace him. If there is any hope, it lies in the courage of those Sunnis who reject this perversion of their faith, their culture, and their nation. They hold the economic and political keys to a better Syria and may yet be the crucial driving force of change.

What is unfolding is not just another chapter in Syria’s tragic history. It is a collapse of any remaining moral order. When entire communities are dehumanized as “pigs” and systematically targeted, we are no longer in a grey zone of “civil war” — we are in the black heart of genocide.

And the world watches.

International institutions have failed Syria repeatedly. But citizens, particularly in democratic nations, still have a voice. If you care about the people of Syria — Alawite, Druze, Kurd, Sunni, Christian — then you have a duty. Call your representatives. Email your foreign ministries. Demand a policy rooted in human rights, not cynical geopolitics.

Because if Julani succeeds, the Christians are next. Then who?

The Syrian experiment in hope has turned into a crucible of horror. But it is not yet too late to stand with the persecuted, to speak the truth, and to help stop the bleeding — before there is no Syria left to save.