Syrian Identity Struggle and the Curse of Sectarian Dogma

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Cain did not kill Abel in the name of Satan, but in the name of God!

Samir Al‑Taqi,Nietzsche says: “Beware, when you wrestle with monsters, that you do not become a monster like them.” From the Inquisition to the Crusades, through Bashar al‑Assad and ISIS, to Netanyahu, crimes are not committed in the name of declared evil, but in the name of sacred right, the eternal mission, and closeness to God.Ever since the agricultural revolution, Syria—lying on the clash‑lines of great strategic blocs—has been either an arena for their conflicts or their partner.When Syria weakens, the struggle is for her; when she grows strong, she becomes a peer and partner in the balance of power. Her human and intellectual wealth has harbored dozens of prophets and creeds, from the heavenly religions to pan‑Arab ideology. Every time Syria cast off sectarian fanaticism and opened itself to intellectual, philosophical, and religious freedom, she rose to the brow of history and became a tremendous crucible of cultural fusion. Whenever she withdrew into fanaticism and the darkness of thought, she withered and shrank, becoming barren for her people and for the world.

Yet the curse of doctrinal conflicts returns to thwart every Syrian prosperity, spitting out Syria’s richest blessings and brightest minds toward the diaspora every generation or two. While Levantines boast of their children’s great successes abroad, that pride conceals their miserable, abject failure to build their homeland and identity as a civilized, flourishing Syrian nation. Syria was once the cradle of immense civilizational innovations—from wheat to glass and ceramics, to clock mechanics and Damascene steel. When perpetual religious wars crushed her, her artisans and thinkers fled, from Rome and al‑Andalus to China.

New, too, is that after being freed from Assad’s yoke, Syria finds herself at her weakest phase and at the most illusory moment of national sovereignty. A “war of all against all” threatens her fate, even her existence as a premature state. Assad’s regime dismantled every national bond and tore apart every social and cultural contract. Newly as well, the ignorance of sectarian tribalism has become a deadly armed identity. And international and regional strategic blocs now crash with overwhelming force around Syria.

Why are Syrians fighting?They differ over the current model of the state: a model imposed by Hay’at Tahrir al‑Sham, an avenging Salafi‑jihadi leadership that will not tolerate dissent even among Sunnis and seeks to impose its model on society in all its components.This is the practical content of the current constitutional declaration, which many Syrians reject, refusing to make jihadi Salafism the country’s creed and the core indoctrination and loyalty of the army and security services, turning the land into ticking time‑bombs.

The urban Sunni majority is, by definition, non‑sectarian. Historically it knows itself by its Ashʿari or Sufi piety, or any of the open, civilized Sunni schools you may name. It never defined its patriotism by sectarianism, even under Assad’s slaughter‑block.Indeed, this urban majority—foremost among them the Sunnis—stands with citizens of every sect, ethnicity, civic, and secular Syrian affiliation against the spilling of Syrian blood and against blind doctrinal mobilization as a basis for state loyalty.Instead of seeking a national dialogue leading to voluntary consensus and restoring civil peace, sectarian madness flares, severing the bonds of coexistence—precisely what many external powers await.As every sign of inclusive Syrian national civility is expelled, and al‑Maʿarri, Abu Firas al‑Hamadhani, Nizar Qabbani, and Badawi al‑Jabal are removed from curricula and their statues toppled, the encompassing urban majority that gathers all sects rises above creeds and rejects exclusive jihadi Salafism, even if it claims the grievance of the majority.No doctrinal group grounded in avenging jihadi Salafism can lead the country out of this ordeal. These very forces preferred partitioning Palestine, Sudan, Libya, Lebanon, and Iraq to abandoning their ideological project.Regardless of individual transformations and interests, Syrians do not believe in a miracle never before seen in history—that entire movements could be tamed, change their creed, and spearhead building a civil state, even if every power on earth endorsed it.Moreover, the country’s frailty, her people’s poverty, and her collapsed infrastructure leave no luxury for bloodshed; they would simply produce a final disintegration far worse than Assad’s.May God curse every vengeful fighter—save he who defends his home and land. In the face of mass slaughter, no idols remain, no power is forbidden—benign or malignant.

After the foolish raid against our people in Suwayda and the frenzy of the tribal “Popular Mobilization,” long subcontracted by Iranians, Russians, and Assad’s forces, there is no longer hope that anyone will surrender their weapons, even by force—neither east of the Euphrates nor in Aleppo or Hama.

Fourteen governmental and non‑governmental international powers are on Syrian soil; betting on flimsy military supremacy to unite the country is folly—a new revolutionary naïveté! Between Israeli dominance, Turkish ascent, Russian lurking, and Iranian watchfulness, America and Europe engage to restrain their proxies’ rivalry. Regional spears entangle in struggles over shares of energy wars, trade‑route wars, maritime‑passage wars, and proxy‑mandate wars.

Some imagine that wielding force against their compatriots will win them a regional or international mandate—what a recurring naiveté.

Indeed, some have gone so far as to concede to all strangers: “Help us, and we’ll secure your interests,” becoming like the real‑estate broker who sells the same land many times, pockets the deposit, and then, let the flood come. All because they cannot imagine sharing power at home through genuine partnership with everyone.

Amid this rampant sectarian frenzy, Turks, Iranians, Israelis, Russians, and Americans applaud: “Go, fight, and kill your Syrian peers, and then we’ll ‘work things out’!” They see Syrians only as rabble, thugs, and ideological fools. Sectarian loyalties, large or small, can lead only to perpetual killing and national failure.

Can Syrians live together? Will Syria remain?Great powers prefer Syria controlled—by tyranny or by consensus. That was their stance toward Assad as long as he could keep the country in check and in accord with them; otherwise, let him fall.

If Syria stays united in civil peace—whether under tyranny or consensus—they will seek to integrate her into their maps. If she cannot, let every side carve off a piece and keep Syrian conflict eternal, one shard smashing another.With every drop of Syrian blood, opportunities for coexistence are exhausted, and neighbors and interlopers lick their lips to fan the flames of ethnic cleansing.

Let Syrians move to save the country’s unity in its final breath—or, “If you stare too long into the abyss, fearing to fall in, the abyss will soon come to you.”You can find the full article here : https://annah.ar/232716