THOSE WHO SUPPORT THE HTS IN SYRIA ARE ENABLING MASSACRES

Massacres are taking place in the cities of Latakia, Tartus and Homs in Syria, where there is a
big population of Arab Alawites, and dozens of civilians have been executed. According to
local sources, there is over one hundred deaths in the region, where fierce clashes between
local militia forces and the HTS administration are taking place.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights stated that a total of 147 soldiers and civilians were
killed in the coastal region. The HTS administration, which declared a curfew in the cities
where clashes are taking place, is making military deployments to the region. HTS, whose
history is already known, presents the developments as clashes between ‘pro-Assad forces’
and the Syrian government in order to legitimise its attacks and massacres against the
Alawite population. It is clear that the main source of the conflicts is that HTS does not fulfil
the promises it made after taking over the government in Syria, and that it uses the support
given to it in the name of stabilisation in Syria and for the regional interests of the
imperialist powers against the people of different sects, cultures and identities in the
country, forcing them to total submission.
The clashes between the HTS administration and the Arab Alawites in the cities in the west
of the country, together with the Druze in the south and the Kurds in the north-east,
crystallise the picture of division in Syria. HTS, which has so far only been interested in
strengthening its own power instead of responding to the democratic demands and
expectations of the peoples, is dragging Syria towards conflicts and division. The picture of
Syria created by the imperialist and collaborator forces, who claim to be in favour of the
unity of Syria, is reaching alarming dimensions with each passing day.
Disagreements, tensions and conflicts with different peoples living in the country, ethnic-
religious-sectarian communities show how HTS wants to rule the country and what kind of
future it imagines. At the same time, it reveals where those who realise regime change
through HTS are dragging the country.

Today, the HTS administration is no more than a ‘tool’ of the imperialists and regional
reactionaries who use the ethnic-religious-sectarian tensions and conflicts in the region as a
basis for exploitation and plunder, and who brought it to power for this purpose. For this
reason, it does not hold back from implementing policies that drag Syria into new tensions
and conflicts. The picture of innocence drawn by the imperialist powers and the Erdogan
administration, who are constantly praising HTS, is falling apart with what is happening.
The US and Western imperialists want to dominate the region, where the most important
energy resources and transit routes are located, with the policy of “divide and rule, provoke
sectarian conflicts and hold on”. The establishment of the HTS administration on the ethnic-
religious fault line in Syria serves the Western imperialists and Israel to keep this
administration under control.
The Erdogan government in Turkey, by supporting jihadist groups such as HTS and dragging
Syria into a sectarian war, gives way to this gang, which in the past attacked and massacred
not only Arab Alawites but also Druze, Syriac, Yazidi, Kurdish, etc. peoples-minorities in the
name of religion.
The coexistence of the peoples, ethnic-religious communities in Syria is only possible with a
democratic-secular government. An inclusive democratic government that includes women,
Alawites, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmens, Druze, Christians and many other social groups will be the
antidote to attempts of conflict and massacres.
In the face of this policy that leads to a de facto division in Syria, not only Kurds, Druze and
Arab Alawites, but also the poor and labouring people of the Sunni Arab majority can build a
future where they can live together in peace and security only if they increase their
solidarity and common struggle on a democratic-secular basis.
A joint struggle is a necessity for the cessation of the attacks and for the security of the
peoples of the region.
The peoples of Syria need the support and solidarity of the working people of Turkey more
than ever.

• The US and Western imperialists are giving way to these attacks by supporting HTS, whose
  jihadism is known and it is obvious that they will not rule the country on a democratic basis.
• The murderous, divisive and threatening policies that drag Syria into new tensions and
  conflicts, deepen ethnic divisions, lead to massacres and threaten the civilian population
  must be stopped immediately.
• Turkey should immediately stop supporting the forces responsible for these massacres and
  should not be a threat to the fraternity of peoples in Syria.
• Our call to the working class in Turkey is that with the HTS regime in Syria, Syrian people’s
  identities and beliefs are in danger as well as their lives.
  Our duty is to stand by the resistance of the peoples and organise a struggle to stop the
  massacres in the region.

LABOUR PARTY