SECTARIAN INCIDENTS SAID TO BE ON RISE IN SYRIA
by Bahiyah Mardini: "Noticeable Sectarian Crimes in Syria"

Ilaf website (In Arabic), UK
15 Jan 2008

In two separate incidents that were not reported in the mass media,
unidentified people shot a Syriac Christian youth in the Syrian city
of Dayr al-Zur, resulting in his immediate death; and some youths
harassed a priest of the Armenian church in front of the church door,
which led to a quarrel between the two sides that was quickly contained
by police patrols of the city. The 33-year-old Syriac youth, Fadi
Wasfi Bakarji, was murdered while he was standing in his brother’s
shop, which sold alcoholic beverages. Unidentified people shot him at
2300 on 4 January 2008, using a gun fitted with a silencer. They fled
without being identified in this strange, dangerous terrorist incident
in Dayr al-Zur, which is 400 km northeast of Damascus. Bakarji was
transferred in a serious condition to one of the city’s hospitals and
then to a hospital in Damascus, where he succumbed to his wounds on
11 January. He was working for a Syrian telecommunications company
as regional sales manager for the eastern area.

Huge official, popular, and tribal delegations, led by the Dayr
al-Zur governor, the Ba’th Party secretary general of the city,
the police chief, the eastern area commander, senior officers of the
governorate, and the chief of the Al-Bakkarah tribe, participated in
Fadi’s funeral and the mass ceremonies which were held in the Church
of the Virgin Mary of the orthodox Syriacs in Dayr al-Zur and which
were conducted by (Matta Ruham), archbishop of Al-Jazeera, and the
Al-Furat parish priest. Everyone denounced and condemned this crime,
and in talks on the sidelines expressed their support for local peace
and their adherence to the values and principles of coexistence and
to fraternity among all Syrian ethnic groups and religions.

In an exclusive statement to Ilaf, Sulayman Yusuf, a Syrian writer
and activist, described this crime as a terrorist act and called on
the relevant Syrian authorities who are responsible for the citizens’
security to follow up the investigation into this crime and not to
be remiss in it, to hunt down the criminals and bring them to court
to receive justice.

He said that killing a peaceful youth in broad daylight and in a public
place, for no reason and without any fault having been committed,
is a terrorist act which raises many questions and doubts, especially
since we, in Syria, live under a security system which alleges that
internal security and stability are among the top priorities in this
critical stage which the region is going through and in which there
is a great deal of sectarian and factional tension.

Fadi’s relatives and friends said that it is difficult to know the
real reasons and motives behind this crime. Furthermore, everybody
stressed that he had no previous personal enmity with anyone that
could push them to kill him. Some Syrians said it is most likely that
this crime took place against an ideological and doctrinal backdrop
which is opposed to the selling and circulation of alcohol. This means
that the criminals may be linked to extremist Islamic organizations
which have regional connections in Iraq, where extremist Islamic
Takfiri organizations, benefiting from the absence of the state and
from the lawlessness in occupied Iraq, have in several Iraqi cities
blown up shops selling alcohol and killed their owners who are mostly
non-Muslims – Christians, Sabians, and yazidis.

A few days before the crime of Fadi’s murder took place, on New
Year’s Eve to be precise, some reckless youths harassed a priest of
the Armenian Church in front of the church door and swore at him. An
Armenian youth who was in the company of the priest confronted the
youths, and this resulted in a quarrel between the two sides. The
quarrel was quickly contained by the police patrols that were present
in the areas surrounding churches, as a precaution and out of the
city’s officials’ concern for security and for making sure that the
New Year’s celebrations took place in a calm and secure atmosphere.

It is worthy of mention that the Syrian Al-Jazeera region has in
recent years witnessed acts of violence, security tension, and
political conflict, some of which have occurred against sectarian
and ethnic backdrops.

Analysts say that these incidents cannot be separated from what
is going on in Iraq, including ethnic, doctrinal, and sectarian
conflicts, since the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The invasion
ignited a variety of feelings and grudges among the peoples of the
region which have grown and become stronger under the political and
religious despotism during the past epoch.

Yusuf said he is afraid that the crime of Fadi’s murder in Dayr al-Zur,
which the Syrian media blacked out, and other incidents that preceded
it, are an indicator of more unrest, sedition, and instability in
Syrian society, starting with the society of the Syrian Al-Jazeera
region that is characterized by its social and cultural fabric. The
society of the Syrian Al-Jazeera region is characterized by doctrinal,
tribal, ethnic, and national diversity, and the implications and
effects of the US invasion on this society seem clearer and more
prominent, especially given that the Syrian Al-Jazeera region is
adjacent to the Iraqi border. It is noted that the Syrian authorities
have reported several security clashes that occurred between Syrian
patrols on one hand and Takfiri Salafist groups and terrorist cells
calling themselves Jund al-Sham, the Soldiers of Greater Syria,
on the other, in several areas of Syria, some of which are in the
Syrian Al-Jazeera region.