From ISIS to Government: al-Sharaa’s Deadly Sectarian Rule in Syria

Josh Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, discusses the brutal massacres of Druze and Alawite communities in Syria by the HTS-backed interim government led by former ISIS and al-Qaeda commander Ahmad al-Sharaa. Despite al-Sharaa’s attempts to distance himself from the violence, Landis makes clear that these killings were carried out by al-Sharaa’s own forces, not rogue militias, as part of a sectarian campaign that deepens Syria’s fragmentation.