Does a Leopard Change Its Spots?

"On 5 October, Syria held elections for its new legislature, the People’s Assembly. 119 representatives were elected indirectly through electoral colleges. Elections were postponed in three governorates—Suweida, which is currently held by the Druze minority, al-Hasakah, and Raqqa, which are held by the Kurdish-led SDF—due to security and political issues. On 23 October, supplementary elections took place to fill three seats from the al-Hasakah and Raqqa governorates, while, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA, the remaining seats in these governorates and in Suweida will stay vacant until “appropriate security and political conditions are met for by-election”.  The remaining one-third of the Assembly’s seats are to be chosen directly by Sharaa. The majority of elected members are Sunni Muslim and male, with only 13 percent of representatives elected on 5 October having been won by women and minorities. The Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Elections’ spokesperson, Nawar Najmeh, acknowledged “shortcomings” of the process, highlighting the “unsatisfactory” representation for women and Christians." 

"Another issue is that UN sanctions on Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)—a terrorist group, formerly affiliated with Al-Qaida and ISIL, whose military campaign under Sharaa’s leadership led to the ouster of Assad—are impacting the interim government. HTS—referred to as an alias for the Al-Nusrah Front on the 1267/1989/2254 sanctions list—Sharaa, and Syria’s interim interior minister Anas Khattab are all listed under the 1267/1989/2253 ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida Sanctions regime, which imposes an asset freeze, travel ban and arms embargo on listed individuals and entities. The Council is currently negotiating a draft resolution that seeks to apply carve-outs to this sanctions regime, aimed at facilitating economic engagement for Syria. The US, the penholder on the file, authored the draft text." 

"Many Council [UN Security Council] members also agree on the need for the Syrian interim government to take decisive measures to address the threat posed by foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and ISIL (Da’esh). China has been particularly vocal in calling on Damascus to take a stronger stance on FTFs in the country, some of whom have reportedly been integrated into the Syrian armed forces. Several FTFs constitute part of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, which China considers a terrorist organisation and is also listed under the UN 1267 sanctions regime." 

Security Council Report: Syria

 

"Al-Sharaa joined al Qaeda about 20 years ago, and was arrested in Iraq in 2005. He spent six years in American and Iraqi prisons before his release in 2011. He then led an affiliate of al Qaeda in Syria, and was designated as a terrorist by the U.S. in 2013. In 2016, he renounced his allegiance to al Qaeda." 

"In November 2024, al-Sharaa led opposition forces in a stunning offensive that toppled the Assad regime."

CBS News

 

"An estimated 1,400 men, women and children were killed in massacres in Latakia, Tartus and Hama governorates, including by members of the government’s security forces."

"Updating the Third Committee of the General Assembly – which focuses on human rights issues – on Thursday, Mr. Pinheiro said that investigators had conducted on-site visits to Latakia and Tartus in June of this year, and more recently to Suweyda and surrounding areas."

"Mr. Pinheiro reported that his team continues to receive reports of extra-judicial killings, torture and ill-treatment and the forced displacement of Alawi civilians in Damascus and western governorates."

"In Sweida, more than 30 villages in majority Druze areas have been entirely depopulated, looted, and burned, and Commission investigators met many families and witnesses who recounted the brutal killings of loved ones taken from their homes."

"There is growing mistrust, he said, between the Druze and Bedouin communities, and the interim government, which needs to hold the perpetrators of the killings accountable and ensure such acts are never repeated."

"The Commission is gravely concerned that the stage is set for further violence if swift action is not taken,” warned Mr. Pinheiro. “Rebuilding trust will require dedicated efforts for dialogue, inclusion, and justice for all victims.”

"The UN-appointed independent rights expert raised growing concerns about violence and discrimination directed against women, citing multiple reports of women and girls being abducted by unknown armed actors, some of whom were reportedly subjected to sexual violence and forced marriage."

United Nations, UN News October 30 2025   

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 24, 2025. KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images

 

Led by former jihadi fighter Ahmed al-Sharaa, Syria's new government promised it would protect the many religious minorities that make up part of the country's population, exhausted from the fourteen years of civil war under former president Bashar al-Assad. Yet it was the minority Alawite-Shiite population that became the first mass casualties of the new regime, punishing them for al-Assad's Alawite presidency and his war against the majority Sunni Syrian population whose complaints of their second-class citizenship status led to al-Assad's all-out war against his Syrian citizens, drawing in Sunni Islamist terror groups in a prolonged conflict that Russia joined in support of the Alawite regime in exchange for a seaport and a Russia-dedicated air base.

 

Having distanced himself from his jihadi association, past relations with Al Qaeda included, al-Sharaa persuaded nations of the Middle East as well as the West that he would be good to his pledge of reigning in the terrorist groups he was once so much a part of. His coalition, he pledged, would no longer relegate the country's religious minorities comprised of Christians, Druze, Alawites and Kurds among others -- to hated, and therefore deserving of death -- heretic status.

 

His pledges and personable appearance, changed from the standard jihadi totalitarian garb, to tailored Wall Street-appropriate suits to completely transform him from a ISIS-style terror threat, to a reasonable, nicely groomed partner for peace and reconciliation lost no time in persuading one-time enemies in the West that he was as good as his word. A truly Western inclination to take people at their word, failing to take into consideration that in Islam these are familiar tactics to aid in gaining an advantage; to present as one agreeable to a proposition running counter to the intended pursuit.

 

Yet those who had reason to be suspicious of such a radical transformation preferred to hold judgement and to await further persuasive actions and declarations, regardless of any background chaos consistent with this former terrorist's past performance. Nature is as mysterious as is human nature, and so  although a leopard cannot change its spots, perhaps human beings can, after all, shed their ingrained convictions for the greater opportunities perceived in taking on the mantle and mantra of civilizational mores and conventions inimical to Islam's conquest aspirations.

 

Smoke from bombed Ministry of Defence building in Damascus (July 2025)  WFP/Jonathan Dumont

 

This new persona enabled him to win the confidence of the United States, Europe and Persian Gulf nations, backing his government, with himself as 'interim' president of a country surfacing from over a decade of losing millions of its population in a desperate escape from atrocities perpetrated by both the government and the terrorist groups that opposed it. Syria now enjoys sanctions relief and financial support, no longer isolated since al Assad's downfall and removal to Russia for political haven. The revenge atrocities against the Alawites, the Druze and Christians, are set aside as hiccoughs in the new government trying to control the terrorists among them.

 

And it was an unfortunate anomaly that government troops in their thousands joined warring militias to take part in the bloody rampage against civilians. One of the deadliest events of sectarian violence saw 2,000 Druse killed under Syria's new authorities. A massacre of government and pro-governmental forces setting out to target and murder Syrian minorities. An investigation and consequences for these outbreaks yet to exonerate anyone, but no one is blinking. Leading the Kurds to hold their counsel, perhaps not to opt after all, to integrating themselves with the new government.

 

Perhaps not so strangely, it seems that many of the 'fighters' who took part in Sweida's execution-type atrocities against civilians carried out both by government forces and those of the pro-government groups filmed their atrocities, then posted these as trophy videos, striking fear in the minorities across the country. Standing before the UN General Assembly in September, Mr. al-Sharaa said he would "bring every hand stained with the blood of innocents to justice". 

 

Waiting.

 

And in the meanwhile, heading to Washington for another congenial meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, who thinks that the new Syrian president is a "nice young man". 

 

US President Donald Trump meets Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this handout released on May 14, 2025. SAUDI PRESS AGENCY / VIA REUTERS