What we witnessed this past week in Syria has reached new levels of barbarity, perpetrated by turkey-backed Islamists and Jihadists, yet nobody in the West seems to care.
Over 1,000 people were slaughtered by the newly established Syrian security forces in a massacre that bore an uncanny resemblance to Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, 2023.
The mass executions of Syria’s minorities were cruel, degrading, and inhumane. In some footage, Syrian security forces forced their victims to bark like dogs and pledge loyalty to the new regime before executing them. Like Hamas, the jihadists filmed their atrocities and broadcasted them for the world to see.
Yet, there were no mass protests, no encampments, no petitions, no calls to boycott Syria – nothing. As someone aptly put it: “No Jews, no news.”
Civilians in Syria have suffered tremendously for years, long before the civil war began in 2011. They have been subjected to unimaginable cruelty at the hands of radical Islamists backed by Iran, Russia, and now Turkey and Qatar.
After the rebels overthrew Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, the new Syrian government, led by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, took power. Many of us in Israel were skeptical about what this meant for Syria’s minorities and Israeli security. HTS was not a democratically elected government but a jihadist faction that originated from al-Qaeda and seized control by force.
Initially, Sharaa and his group sought to convince Western media that they had turned over a new leaf and were working toward a democratic Syria. CNN even conducted an interview with Sharaa, lending him a platform to rebrand himself. But that illusion shattered this past week when HTS security forces massacred 830 Alawite Syrians in just 48 hours.
We saw a similar narrative unfold after former Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, when Western media framed his successor, Masoud Pezeshkian, as a “reformist” and “moderate” candidate.
Yet Pezeshkian remains just as authoritarian as his predecessor, maintaining unwavering support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its policies that fuel international terrorism and the oppression of Iranian women and minorities.
Downplaying jihadist brutality
Now, Western media is downplaying or outright ignoring the brutality of the very jihadists they once painted as “moderate” and “pro-democracy,” even as they butcher their own people. The violence in Syria this weekend erupted when a group of Alawites ambushed Sharaa’s forces, triggering a disproportionate retaliation.
The Alawites – loyal to Assad – make up roughly 10% of Syria’s population, while Druze, Kurds, and Christians were also caught in the crossfire, fearing that the new regime is no better than Assad’s.
The atrocities committed by these jihadists cannot – and must not – be excused. There is no democracy in Syria. The country remains war-torn, having merely exchanged one tyrannical regime for another. A nation cannot claim democracy when its leader emerges from al-Qaeda. He may wear a suit, but his past – and his future – tell a different story.
Recently, Alawite leaders demanded immediate Israeli military intervention following Russia’s betrayal. Who would have imagined that Israel – already facing a multifront war against Iran and its terrorist proxies – would now be asked to stabilize Syria and protect its minorities?
Iran, Russia, and Turkey bear full responsibility for Syria’s destruction. These powers never cared about the Syrian people; their only concern was strengthening the Axis of Resistance against Israel. Now, Turkey is expanding its influence, not to help Syrians but to cement yet another anti-Israel alliance.
There is a vast disconnect between people in the West and the grim reality of countries ruled by radical jihadists. The average person in a Western democracy cannot comprehend that Hamas terrorists would murder a nine-month-old baby with their bare hands or that Syrian jihadists would publicly execute a minor on camera.
Because they cannot process such evil, they end up sympathizing with – or even aiding – tyrannical jihadists who oppress minorities across the Middle East.
Whether it is HTS in Syria or Hamas in Gaza, these groups are genocidal fundamentalists.
There is no such thing as a good jihadist. Radical Islamism brings nothing but chaos and destruction. Hamas, like HTS, seeks annihilation rather than governance. Gaza lies in ruins because Hamas betrayed its own people – for Iranian blood money.
Zina Rakhamilova is CEO and a co-founder of Social Lite Creative, a digital marketing firm that specializes in geopolitics.
David Mayofis is an Israeli digital activist and content creator who focuses on news, OSINT, and international affairs related to the Middle East.