Syria's sectarian violence must be banished, not managed

Syria is a country experiencing two realities. At the level of high diplomacy, the change from the Bashar Al Assad era is remarkable. Earlier this week, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani spoke with State Department officials in New York, the first time American figures and Mr Al Shibani have met in the US. The meeting came after Mr Al Shibani raised Syria’s new flag at the UN. Just days before, Saudi Arabia and Qatar said they would settle Syria’s World Bank debts of about $15 million. Last Friday, the UK lifted a tranche of sanctions including those imposed on its defence, financial and energy sectors, an important step in restoring the country’s economy. On the streets of Homs, Damascus and other parts of Syria however, serious challenges are arising. Another outbreak of sectarian violence , this time involving Druze fighters, militants aligned with President Ahmad Al Shara’s Hayat Tahrir Al Sham and unidentified gunmen, threatens to tip the country into another full-blown crisis. The trigger for the clashes appears to be a doctored video circulating online, purportedly showing a Druze cleric insulting the Prophet Mohammed – an audio fabrication debunked by both the Syrian authorities and Druze religious leaders. In a fragile country where differences between religious and ethnic communities were exploited by the previous establishment, the spread of such disinformation is proving deadly . However, hopes that the security forces can swiftly restore order must be tempered by the fact that Syria is less than two months on from similarly alarming violence. March’s string of attacks in coastal Syria in which nearly 1,400 civilians – most of them from the minority Alawite community – lost their lives should have been the moment for the government to ensure accountability for those found guilty of crimes. Despite some initial steps, this process has not been quick enough. Instead, the country’s fragile sectarian mix remains painfully vulnerable to attack from a combination of local warlords, foreign fighters and even manipulation from outside in the form of Israeli military interventions, masquerading as protecting Druze communities. In addition, the hard work Syria’s new administration has undertaken to restore relationships with neighbours like Lebanon, the wider Arab world, Europe and the US is imperilled by the sight of gunmen exchanging fire in the suburbs of Syrian towns and cities. To ensure sustained international support for Syria’s project of stabilising the country, this violence must not only be stopped, it must be banished for good. The HTS-led administration – despite its roots as an insurgent movement – has plenty of experience in governing, having overseen an imperfect but largely stable system when it controlled Syria’s Idlib province. It should harness this experience to dismantle rogue militias and build on practical achievements such as the March 10 agreement to integrate the Syrian Democratic Forces into the country’s state structures. Socially and politically, Damascus must renew and expand its National Dialogue for all of Syria’s communities to chart an agreed future. None of this is easy and political disagreements are to be expected. But working through these issues politically is vital; gunmen cannot set the pace. Syria still has the chance to build a future of recovery and renewal. Its leaders, governmental and from the community, must act now to make that chance a reality.