Country: Syria

Group: Shia

Date: 10/26/2022

Team Hannah Lux (lead), Erin Fagan, Isabella Boker

Content Warnings: genocide, violence, discrimination, forced conversion, forced assimilation, deportation

Approximate Time Period: 2012-present

Shia Muslims make up less than 2% of Syria’s population.  In the last decade, ISIS has committed lethal violence against Shia minorities (Minority Rights Group, 2018). Moreover, anti-government groups have targeted Shia for their alleged ‘pro-government’ stance (Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, 2013). 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).

The data quality is rated a 3/3 because there is a substantial amount of evidence from qualified sources for Lethal Violence in Syria.

Sources

  1. Minority Rights Group. March, 2018. Ishmaili Shi’as. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ismaili-shias/
  2. “Shi’ism in Syria.” Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School, https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/faq/shiism-syria.
  3. NPR (2015). Syria’s Minorities: Caught Between Sword Of ISIS And Wrath of Assad. https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/04/17/400360836/syrias-minorities-caught-between-sword-of-isis-and-wrath-of-assad
  4. 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]