(Zero Hedge)—More than a year after Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow, and some mainstream media outlets are finally taking a critical eye to the new Sharaa/Jolani regime and its human rights abuses, religious oppression, and war crimes.
While the West and Gulf countries celebrated Assad fleeting the country for Russia in December 2024, with the al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) taking over Damascus, the new government quickly got to work persecuting, massacring, and disappearing religious minorities.
First Alawites were targeted last spring, then Christians, and more recently Druze – or anyone not acting according to the HTS brand of fanatical Islam and jihad. But CNN and other establishment news outlets have ‘moved on’ and are turning a blind eye.
But somewhat surprisingly, Reuters has issued a new report which highlights the country simply traded Assad’s ‘notorious prisons’ for Jolani’s dark dungeons:
The first wave of detentions in the new Syria came almost immediately – just after victorious rebels flung open the doors of Bashar al-Assad’s notorious prisons.
As ordinary Syrians stormed detention complexes last December to search for loved ones who had vanished under Assad’s rule, thousands of the deposed dictator’s soldiers who had abandoned their posts – officers and conscripts alike – were taken prisoner by the rebels.
Then came the second wave in late winter: Hundreds of people from Assad’s Alawite sect, mostly men, were seized by the new authorities throughout Syria. Their detentions spiked after a brief uprising along the coast in March killed dozens of security forces, sparking reprisals that left nearly 1,500 Alawites dead. Those arrests continue to this day.
In the next wave to be targeted for mass detentions by the new government were Druze, especially after fighting and unrest was sparked in the south between locals and Jolani’s Sunni security forces.
Reuters underscores, “Prisons and lockups that jailed tens of thousands of people during Assad’s rule are now crowded with Syrians detained by President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s security forces and held without formal charges.”
The outlet has compiled names of over 800 Syrians held under such circumstances, and says the true figure is likely much higher.
Syrian general security headed towards Aleppo calls Kurds pigs. Not the SDF. Not the Asayish. Kurds.
“We’ll step on your necks, God willing.”
This is the “inclusive” Syrian government. pic.twitter.com/LWzxJdX3ls
— Lindsey Snell (@LindseySnell) December 22, 2025
The secular rule of the Assad family over the years consistently saw widespread accusations of torture happening at government detention sites. But again, it seems the country has simply moved to jails now overseen by torturers who are bearded jihadists:
In December 2024, Sharaa pledged to “close the notorious prisons” of the fallen dictator. But Reuters found that at least 28 prisons and lockups from the Assad era have been operational again over the past year.
Asked for comment on the findings of this report, Syria’s Information Ministry said that the need to bring those involved in Assad’s abuses to justice explained many of the detentions and the reopening of some facilities.
“The number of people involved in crimes and violations in Syria under the former regime is very large, given the scale of the abuses committed,” the ministry said. “There are past crimes, involvement in new violations, and threats to security and stability by those associated with the regime, in addition to other crimes.”
So it seems this is more about mass revenge against non-Muslim communities, and detainees interviewed by Reuters say they’ve been insulted with fanatical and religious language. “You are infidels, you are pigs,” one Syrian farmer who was arrested by the new regime described.
Another Alawite man recounted, “Everyone ordered me to bark like a dog. They beat me with the butts of their rifles, their fists, their boots. I thought my life was coming to an end.”
Shocking how #ISIS has become more powerful and present in #Syria since Trump made #Jolani and the #NewSyria Takfiris part of the Anti-ISIS coalition. LOL pic.twitter.com/poM3LzwLnh
— Vanessa Beeley (@VanessaBeeley) December 17, 2025
Reuters also included the story of a Christian merchant who was tortured and killed under the new regime:
Among the dead was a detainee at Kafr Sousa, a 59-year-old Christian merchant named Milad al-Farkh. His family said he was arrested on August 24 on allegations of hiding weapons, working as an arms dealer and selling expired meat at his butcher shop.
Al-Farkh’s family described the arrest as an attempt to pressure them into paying $10,000 in protection money.
Two weeks later, an inmate at Kafr Sousa managed to get a call out to the family to tell them al-Farkh was near death from torture. The call from the hospital morgue came the next day, on September 9, the family said. One relative was arrested for demanding an autopsy.
Sadly, Syria’s new rulers – who resemble ISIS or al Qaeda in their words, actions, appearance, and beliefs – were installed with the help of the US, Turkey, and Gulf allies.
Below: “Details of the real-life experiences of the Orthodox Christian families and others who suffered at the hands of radical terrorists supported by countries and groups from outside Syria.”
The Book SYRIA CRUCIFIED offers unique stories of individual Syrian Christians telling of their war-torn homeland. Order your copy with the link below. https://t.co/tn0pfyQFS9 pic.twitter.com/zazLajtIsh
— Brad Hoff (@BradRHoff) December 28, 2021
President Trump even recently boasted, “It’s been amazing what — what’s taken place in Syria. We got rid of Assad.”
Amer Matar, a journalist and filmmaker briefly detained by ruling HTS forces this year has observed, “Those ruling today decided to turn the Assad prisons into new prisons… It’s the most absurd thing I have ever seen.”
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