The special envoy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed to oversee Canada’s response to Syria wants Ottawa to quickly ease sanctions on the war-torn country’s interim government.
Since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime at the hands of rebel factions led by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the country has erupted in a wave of sectarian violence and civilian killings targeting the Alawite minority that made up the former regime’s power base.
Trudeau’s Special Envoy to Syria, Omar Alghabra, urged the Liberal government to offer sanctions relief to Syria’s new Islamist-led government. In an interview with Global News, Alghabra–who is of Syrian descent–stated that lifting sanctions could help give Syria “a chance” at democracy.
“We had conversations about their vision for Syria. All I can tell you is I’m hearing a lot of the right things. A lot of the right vision, the commitment to having an inclusive, civil society-based Syria. Having said that, we need to hold this government accountable,” said Alghabra about his past conversations with the new Syrian regime.
Last month former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opened the door to normalizing relations with the new Islamist regime in Syria. On Feb. 13 Trudeau congratulated rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa, who is more commonly known by his nom de guerre, Abu-Mohammad al-Joulani. al-Sharaa heads the HTS, a coalition of Islamist groups with ties to al-Qaeda.
Shortly after Trudeau’s call with al-Sharaa, Canada distributed $17.25 million in aid to Syria including funds to address gender-based violence, bringing total Liberal spending on Syria to $4.8 billion. The figure does not include costs associated with the over 100,000 Syrian refugees welcomed under the Liberals.
Despite this human rights groups are raising alarms about increasingly deadly persecutions of religious minorities in Syria. Despite statements by al-Sharaa calling for those loyal to his new government to refrain from killing civilians, Syria has seen civilian deaths pile up in recent weeks.
Since March 6th, forces loyal to the HTS have stormed the Western coastal cities of Latakia, Tartous, and Jableh, targeting Alawites, the minority sect that Assad himself hailed from, under the pretext of cleansing “regime remnants.”
Militants motivated by a lust for revenge against the sect, have attacked areas that are known to house Alawites.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights has documented a civilian death toll of 125, including mass executions by those seeking revenge.
Meanwhile, Fox News cited an Alawite estimate of over 4,000 dead.
The bloody campaign isn’t merely politically motivated, but also sectarian, rooted in the Sunni Islamist ideology plaguing the region.
Sunni Islamists consider Alawites as infidels for their differing religious beliefs such as believing in a divine trinity, an inspiration taken from Christianity.
The religious Syrian opposition to Assad also cited his close relationship with Shia Iran and his regime’s minority-led secular governance in a country where Sunnis are the majority.
HTS remains a designated terrorist entity in Canada and has been so since Nov. 2013, when it was still an Al-Qaeda proxy.