Syria is among the number countries whose unrest aimed initially to gain peace and freedom yet transformed to a war against Shia Muslims. Many Shia Muslims were kidnapped, tortured and abused by terrorist groups. Shia Rights Watch aims to inform the FSA and Syrian government about the unfair and inhumane situation of Shia in this country and to convince them to issue a statement condemning the violence against Shia Muslims. Unfortunately the safety of innocent residents comes second to the tension between the opposing sides.
Each side of the war should issue a statment and condemn any violence toward minority groups such as Shia.
Shia Muslim seems to be the main target terrorism in this country. There are many incidents reporting Shia being killed because their faith. The following are some of many incidents.
• As of the beginning of the unrest in Syria, Shia houses were marked by Anti-Shia groups, and households were savagely tortured and slaughtered at night time.
• Many Shia families had to flee from cities such as Halab and Edlib. They were mostly from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
• Shrine of Sayeda Zainab and Ruqiya, two very important Shia role models, were attacked several time and the attacks resulted in killing of two of the shrines’ Shia gaurds.
• In the cities such as Az-Zahra around 120 Shia were kidnapped. Terrorist groups asked for bulks of bullets in return for the release of each kidnapped indivdual.
• Shia in villages such as Nebbol and Az-Zahra’ and in Edlib there Foo’a فوعة and Kafariyya, were abandoned without food and water for days.
• Families and scholars who aimed to protect the Shia were identified by terrorist groups and abused or killed.
• Recently there were two young Shia men, Ali Taha and Hussein Ibrahim, who were kidnapped, tortured and then slaughtered; their bodies were found after couple days behind the town of Al-Hijjera. (picture re available in our Shia rights watch web site).
The mentioned incidents are among many others in which Shia Muslim’s human rights were violated. Shia Rights Watch monitors the situation in Syria with daily updates. Please visit our web for more information.
