Preparing your experience
The assault on peaceful protesters, the destruction of their phones—particularly those of women—and the explicit threats of imprisonment, execution, and public humiliation in full view of bystanders and cameras can only be carried out by individuals who feel immune from accountability
PUBLISHED
April 18, 2026
READ TIME
2 min read
SOURCE
Sarah Abbas
The protests that took place in Damascus yesterday, April 17, 2026—demanding improved living conditions, reduced electricity costs, and an end to the sale of state sectors to the Turkish government and its affiliated private companies—did not merely expose the scale of hunger, poverty, injustice, and humiliation endured by the Syrian people under the slogan “Whoever liberates decides.” They also revealed the extent of hatred, intolerance, ignorance, violence, and extremism that the jihadist Jolani-led authority has instilled in the minds of its supporters.
The actions of these supporters were neither spontaneous nor random. Widely circulated videos—many of which were recorded and proudly shared by the perpetrators themselves—demonstrate clear coordination and direct guidance from what is known as the “General Security.” The assault on peaceful protesters, the destruction of their phones—particularly those of women—and the explicit threats of imprisonment, execution, and public humiliation in full view of bystanders and cameras can only be carried out by individuals who feel immune from accountability, confident in their protection, and acting under direct orders from the de facto jihadist authority.
The protests that took place in Damascus yesterday, April 17, 2026—demanding improved living conditions, reduced electricity costs, and an end to the sale of state sectors to the Turkish government and its affiliated private companies—did not merely expose the scale of hunger, poverty, injustice, and humiliation endured by the Syrian people under the slogan “Whoever liberates decides.” They also revealed the extent of hatred, intolerance, ignorance, violence, and extremism that the jihadist Jolani-led authority has instilled in the minds of its supporters.
The actions of these supporters were neither spontaneous nor random. Widely circulated videos—many of which were recorded and proudly shared by the perpetrators themselves—demonstrate clear coordination and direct guidance from what is known as the “General Security.” The assault on peaceful protesters, the destruction of their phones—particularly those of women—and the explicit threats of imprisonment, execution, and public humiliation in full view of bystanders and cameras can only be carried out by individuals who feel immune from accountability, confident in their protection, and acting under direct orders from the de facto jihadist authority.
This new method of repression—aimed at silencing voices calling for the most basic rights, while labeling them as “remnants” or accusing them of ties to the so-called “former regime”—is nothing more than a tool to suppress freedoms and entrench extremism.
We present these facts, which reflect the nature of the emerging reality in Syria, to human rights organizations and decision-makers at both the international and regional levels. We call for immediate and urgent measures to save what remains of Syrian society, which is being consumed by jihadist ideology and extremism. The continuation of this trajectory will produce generations deeply shaped by radicalization, further entrench extremist political Islam that the region has suffered from for decades, and give rise to extremist political movements that recognize only the language of bloodshed and war.
Western Syria Alliance
