Russia: Massacre of Alawites in Syria is equivalent to Rwandan genocide

According to Ashura News, citing Mehr News Agency, Russia strongly criticized the Golani regime in Syria in a private meeting of the UN Security Council for increasing sectarian violence and the presence of foreign fighters. This is while Moscow is trying to maintain two of its key military bases in Syria.

Accordingly, Russia strongly criticized the Golani regime in a private meeting of the UN Security Council for increasing sectarian violence and the risk of the growth of terrorists in Syria. Two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the Russian representative in the meeting compared the sectarian killing of Alawites to the Rwandan genocide.

Moscow's harsh criticism comes while Russia is trying to maintain two of its key military bases in the coastal regions of Syria. These areas are the same areas where hundreds of people from the Alawite minority were killed last week.

The recent violence began after an attack on the new Syrian government security forces on March 6. The attack was attributed to groups loyal to former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, an Alawite. It prompted groups linked to the new government to carry out widespread killings of Alawites in several provinces.

The Kremlin, which supported Assad before his overthrow and has remained in contact with him since he fled to Russia last December, called for Syrian unity on Tuesday and said it was in contact with other countries on the issue. But the Russian envoy’s remarks at a closed-door Security Council meeting on Monday at the joint request of Russia and the United States were much harsher, reflecting Moscow’s strategy to regain influence in the Syrian process.

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, compared the sectarian and ethnic killings in Syria to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, two sources familiar with the matter said. At that time, Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically massacred by Hutu extremists led by the Rwandan army and Interahamwe militias. Nebenzia told the Security Council: "No one has stopped the killings in Syria."

Moscow seeks to maintain its influence in Syria and does not want to weaken its position by publicly criticizing the new government, said Anna Borshevskaya, a Russia expert at the Washington Institute. She added: "Russia also wants to be seen as a great power alongside the United States and solve crises together. Therefore, private cooperation with the United States in this matter gives them more advantages."

The Russian representative also criticized the dissolution of the Syrian army and the mass dismissal of civil servants by the leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, warning that the Iraq scenario could be repeated this time in Syria.

Ahmed al-Shara, nicknamed Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the self-proclaimed interim president of Syria, told Reuters in an interview that his government does not want to divide posts along sectarian lines and that the broader government to be announced this week may also include Alawites.

He said he did not want to create a rift between Syria and Russia, and that Damascus wanted to maintain its deep strategic ties with Moscow.

In a closed-door Security Council meeting, Russia said the actions of Tahrir al-Sham leaders had created a corrupt environment for the transition from decades of Assad’s rule and expressed concern that foreign terrorists were playing a destructive role in the process. Evidence of widespread killings on the Syrian coast indicated the presence of people who did not speak Arabic, suggesting the involvement of foreign fighters in the violence.

Representatives from the United States, France and China also expressed concerns in a closed-door meeting about the presence of foreign fighters in Syria and the state of the country’s political transition. The Security Council is negotiating a statement condemning the violence, expressing concern about its impact on increasing tensions between Syrian communities and calling on the interim authorities to protect all Syrians, regardless of ethnicity or religion.

Security Council statements are adopted by consensus. Nebenzia told Reuters he hoped the council would soon reach an agreement on the situation. The international community has conditioned much of its re-engagement with Syria on the nature of the power transition process, including the extent to which the country's diverse religious and ethnic communities participate.