Country: Syria

Group: Shia

Date Finalized: 11/1/2022

Team: Erin Fagan (leader), Isabella Boker, Hannah Lux

Content Warning:

Approximate Time Period: 20th and21st Century

            There are many sects of the Islamic religion in Syria, the most populous being Sunni muslims, followed by Alawites, and lastly Shia at around 1% (Wikipedia, 2022).​​ The majority Sunni population has viewed Shia muslims as distrusted outsiders, because they see Syria as a Sunni nation, despite Shia founding of the ruling Ba’ath party (Harvard Divinity School, 2022). Sunni muslims have verbally attacked those converting to Shi’ism, called mustabsir, mostly through use of the internet (Sindawi, 2011). In April 2012, a Shia religious leader was killed by two shooters; in December 2012, an explosion killed 12 people and damaged a Shia temple. (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2013). With these repeated attacks, the anti-government groups seem to be attacking the Shia ethnicity and culture by attacking religious places and leaders (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2013). In the last decade, ISIS in Syria has targeted minority Shia for attacks as apostates (Minority Rights Group, 2018).

Data Quality: Data quality is rated a 1 out of 3 as there is not a lot of data, and the data available is not very in depth, especially about cases involving ethnocide.  

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (2022). Islam in Syria. (2022). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Syria
  2. Shi’ism in Syria. (2022). Harvard Divinity School. https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/shiism-syria
  3. Minority Rights Group. March, 2018. Ishmaili Shi’as. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ismaili-shias/
  4. Sindawi, K. (2011). Al-Mustabsirūn, “Those Who Are Able To See The Light”: Sunnī Conversion to Twelver Shī’ism in Modern Times. Die Welt Des Islams, 51(2), 210–234. https://doi.org/10.1163/157006011X574508
  5. Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Syria: The situation of Shias and Alawites, including treatment by authorities and insurgents; whether insurgents consider Shias and Alawites to be loyal to President al-Assad (March 2011-May 2013), 3 June 2013, SYR104429.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/51d41d744.html [accessed 14 January 2023]