Generally speaking, the Twelver Shia in Syria find themselves in a precarious position since the fall of the Assad regime. Associated heavily with support for the Assad regime as well as the intervention of Iran and Hezbollah on its behalf, Twelver Shia communities have disproportionate numbers of ‘martyrs’ who died fighting within the ranks of the regime’s army and the ‘forces of the friends’ that were affiliated with Iran and Hezbollah. In addition, Twelver Shia communities do not constitute large geographical continuums akin to the Druze of al-Suwayda’ or the Alawites of the coastal regions.
In Homs province, there have been multiple reports of assassinations and violations against Shia, with many of them now displaced as a result.
Their situation is thus largely at the mercy of the ruling authorities, with a rather mixed picture. On the one hand, the situation in the Aleppo villages of Nubl and al-Zahara’ is relatively good, but in Homs province, there have been multiple reports of assassinations and violations against Shia, with many of them now displaced as a result.
In this guest post, a person from the Twelver Shia village of Tel Aghar in Homs province gives an overall view of the Twelver Shia situation in Syria, bitterly complaining of how Bashar al-Assad and his allies used the Twelver Shia in a pointless war and essentially abandoned them, while also noting how other Twelver Shia in Lebanon and Iraq have failed to help their brethren in Syria, with the displaced Syrian Twelver Shia in Lebanon facing mistreatment at the hands of the Lebanese. I should note that this perspective does not necessarily reflect that of all or most Syrian Twelver Shia inside and outside the country, but this feeling of bitterness is worth noting.
Below is the post translated by me with some light editing. Parenthetical insertions in square brackets are my own.
As-salam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu
Very great oppression has befallen the followers of the Ahl al-Bayt [Prophet Muhammad’s family] in Syria. For 14 years the sect was used for the interests of some states and parties and was pushed into a useless war, and it brought forth the martyrs (God be content with them) and wounded (may God heal them and grant them sufficiency), and left behind a great number of orphans and widows.
The Shia have been left behind in Syria between the hammer of the authority and the anvil of its supporters, and after they fought alongside the deposed Bashar, they have nothing except degradation and humiliation, before these noble people should be bestowed with regularisation of status.
And while the regime and its supporters used the Shia of Syria as a playing card with which to threaten their enemies, they did not refrain from humiliating them at the checkpoints or through detaining them for stupid reasons etc., not to mention the fact that in the final period they were transferred to army units, as well as the mistakes that were being committed in military work, culminating in the final strike on Palmyra that you know about [referring to Israel’s strike on Palmyra in November 2024].
The Shia have been left behind in Syria between the hammer of the authority and the anvil of its supporters.
Then the day came when the criminal fell and his supporters fled, leaving the Shia in Syria to their fate. None of them took it upon himself to guarantee the Shia’s safety before fleeing or even inform the loyalists that something was being prepared. Then the ghoul came out and said the situation is good, no need for worry, only to come back and say: ‘Take care of yourselves.’ He fled the country and abandoned the Shia to their fate, just as his supporters did- those people who gave us a headache, saying: ‘Zaynab will not be made a captive twice’ [referring to preventing the Sayyida Zaynab shrine in Damascus from falling to the insurgents].
Then the journey of hunger, poverty and taking refuge in Lebanon began, with humiliation and degradation of the displaced Syrians at the hands of the Lebanese who used all means and ways to humiliate the Shia. It was as though the ghoul had gone to Lebanon to complete what he had done in Syria in terms of humiliating the Shia and depriving them of their most basic rights, simply for his amusement.
In addition, the Shia who remain in Syria are in a worse situation than those in Lebanon. For the past eight months, no one has bestowed on them one piastre and you know well the economic situation. Indeed, they are also subject to constant provocations and violations that are well-known to all.
The Shia of Iraq have also stood against us and have not facilitated travel to Iraq for us, and they have not supported us with one piastre on the inside.
Then the day came when the criminal fell and his supporters fled, leaving the Shia in Syria to their fate.
The talk about oppression is very long on, but let us conclude with what happened in Lebanon to the brother Muhammad Shahud, as he was removed and everyone who speaks of oppression will be removed, for no reason other than the one who protects the corrupt one is even more corrupt. Then those who say they are Syrian scholars in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Tora Bora come out against us in order to whitewash the corrupt one at whose hands the sect has suffered- the one whose corruption and ethics have become clear to all.
Oh God, support the followers of the Amir al-Mu’minin [commander of the faithful] in Syria and keep the corrupt ones and those who have personal interests away from them.
I apologise for the lengthy discussion.
Oh God, hasten the deliverance of Your trustee [the Mahdi]
Published originally on August 16, 2025.
