Middle East Monitor / March 10, 2025
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has called on Europe to “stop granting legitimacy” to Syria’s transitional authorities following the deaths of hundreds of civilians in military operations against remnants of the deposed Assad regime, AFP reported, citing an interview with the German newspaper Bild.
“Europe must not fail in reading the reality,” Sa’ar told Bild. “It must wake up. It must stop granting legitimacy to a regime whose first actions – unsurprising, given its well-known terrorist background – are these atrocities.”
Tensions in Syria began on Thursday in a predominantly Alawite village in the countryside of Latakia province, after security forces arrested a wanted individual. The situation quickly escalated into clashes when Alawite gunmen opened fire, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which has since reported executions targeted Alawite civilians.
SOHR said yesterday that it “has documented the death of 973 civilians in 39 massacres and other individual executions committed by military and security forces in the Syrian coastline and Latakia mountains” since 7 March.
It added that the attacks also killed 231 members of security services and the Ministry of Defence and 250 Alawite gunmen affiliated with the former regime. Their deaths bring to 1,454 the total number of fatalities since the beginning of attacks on 6 March.
Authorities sent reinforcements to Latakia and the neighbouring coastal province of Tartus, where security forces launched large-scale operations to track down supporters of Bashar al-Assad.
These are the deadliest incidents in Syria since Al-Assad, a member of the Alawite minority, was ousted on 8 December.
Speaking to Bild, Sa’ar said: “The international community in general, and Europe in particular, has flocked to Damascus in recent months to shake hands with Syria’s transitional president, Ahmad al-Sharaa.”
“However, Al-Sharaa and his men were jihadists and remain jihadists, even if they now wear suits.”
His comments come amid the ongoing Israeli aggression against Syria. It is seen as part of efforts to create divisions within Syrian society to further destabilise the country after the fall of Al-Assad and expand Israel’s settlements in the country.
