Activists on social media circulated controversial videos on Wednesday showing a frightening escalation of sectarian rhetoric and incitement to violence by religious figures and gangsters known for their loyalty to the ousted Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and its ally Iran.
In one of the videos, Shujaa Ali, one of the most famous leaders of kidnapping operations under the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad, appeared threatening to burn mosques and directing direct threats to the residents of the Sunni-majority "Houla" area in the northern Homs countryside.
This escalation comes in the context of incitement with a sectarian character, which raised widespread concern about the return of sectarian violence to the forefront after the fall of the Assad regime.
In a related context, Luqman Ghurra, known as one of Iran's prominent arms in Syria, appeared in another video openly threatening to kill Syrians and "cut off heads", during protests witnessed in the coastal areas of Syria and accompanied by sectarian slogans.
Ghurra", who is considered a controversial figure, used inflammatory rhetoric aimed at spreading fear and deepening divisions among Syrians, which prompted activists and observers to warn of the possibility of escalating tensions in the region.
These videos sparked angry reactions on social media, with many Syrians calling for the need to confront inflammatory rhetoric and hold accountable those involved in igniting sectarian strife
.هذا الشخص "شجاع العلي" يعتبر زعيم ميليشيا خطف مرتبطة بحزب الله وكان يخطف السوريين ويقوم بتصفيتهم..
— قتيبة ياسين (@k7ybnd99) December 26, 2024
اليوم يهدد بحرق المساجد ويدعو للتظاهر
أمثال هذا الشخص يرون أن خلاصهم الوحيد من المحاسبة القادمة تكون بإشعال الفتنة لعلها تفضي إلى عفو عن أمثاله
يستخدمون الطائفة وقود لهم pic.twitter.com/JfKxKWxiXm
Dozens of protesters took to the streets on Wednesday in some neighborhoods of the city of Homs, and the cities of Qardaha, Latakia, and Jableh, raising sectarian slogans including "Alawite... Alawite" and "Labayk Ya Hussein", in response to the spread of an old video clip showing an attack on the shrine of Sheikh "Abu Abdullah Al-Khusaiby", one of the religious shrines of one of the sects in the Aleppo Governorate, northern Syria.
Dozens of protesters took to the streets on Wednesday in some neighborhoods of Homs, and the cities of Qardaha, Latakia, and Jableh, raising sectarian slogans including "Alawite... Alawite" and "We are at your service, Hussein", in response to the spread of an old video clip showing an attack on the shrine of Sheikh "Abu Abdullah al-Khusaiby", the founder of the Alawite sect, which is considered one of the religious shrines of one of the sects in Aleppo Governorate, northern Syria.
Local activists considered the sudden move after about twenty days from the date of the video to be in response to threats from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who threatened a civil war in Syria and called on (Alawite) youth to rise up.
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