The killings last week apparently left thousands of Alawites and Christians dead and many more thousands fleeing.

Radwan Alo, a displaced Syrian, stated, "The suffering is very high. It is a complete extermination of the Alawite Sect, of our brothers the Christians, of our brothers the Shiites."

A spokesperson from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said, "Some survivors told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families."

Syria's military claims the killing is now over and one Syrian resident, Mahmoud al-Hamoud noted, "Thank God, today life has returned, and people have gone back to their homes. Everything is, thank God, perfectly fine." (Screengrab image: via X)

The Syrian regime led by Ahmed al-Sharaa has ordered a commission of inquiry. He insists the massacres of mostly civilians weren't acts of ethnic cleansing, but the crushing of rebel forces attacking the new government.

Col. Hassan Abdel Ghani, a Syrian Defense Ministry spokesman, warned any surviving rebels not to attack again. "Our message is clear and explicit: If you return, we will also return, and you will find before you men who do not know how to retreat and who will not have mercy on those whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents," he cautioned.

While much of the world's media ignored these mass killings Israel certainly took notice and blasted the Islamists now in charge of Syria.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel declared, "The international community must come to its senses about the regime in Damascus; it's actually about jihad. This is a massacre the whole world should condemn. This is what an ethnic cleansing really looks like."

Israeli forces have struck dozens of Syrian military targets that could prove a threat. It also warned Damascus to keep its forces out of southern Syria, the region closest to Israel.

"We are concerned about those jihadist monsters committing a massacre, an ethnic cleansing of Jews and Druze within our borders," Haskel announced. "We will not allow the formation of jihadist threat on our borders with Syria."

The new Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir toured the buffer zone his troops have set up on Mount Hermon and the surrounding Syrian territory.

Defense Minister Israel Katz also visited the area, saying of the Syrian President al-Sharaa, "He will see the IDF watching him from the heights of Mount Hermon and will remember that we're here, and in all the security areas in southern Syria, to protect the residents of the Golan and the Galilee from any threat from him and his jihadist friends."

In a sign that the rulers in Damascus are trying to appear more moderate, they signed a deal this week with leaders of the large minority of Syrian Kurds who live in the country's north and east.

The Kurds had been repressed by Syria's former leader Bashar al-Assad. The new Sunni government in Damascus is promising them full rights and an end to the divisions that have long kept Syria in turmoil.

Syrian political analyst Majed Mkheiber noted, "The agreement marks a significant step toward unifying Syria, putting an end to the country's 14 years of fracture."

Kurds and their allies are celebrating.

Majdal Hamza, an Arab citizen who lives in the Kurdish region, said, "The whole people are happy, and they are all one hand: Kurds, Christians, Syrians, and all other sects. We are all brothers in one country."

On the Gaza front, President Donald Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff is back in the region. He's pushing to extend the war's ceasefire another 60 days with Hamas immediately releasing 10 of the more than 20 hostages who remain alive.

Hamas is balking at the suggestion, still insisting on negotiations to end the war permanently with the terror group still armed and in charge of Gaza.

Witkoff and Israel both insist Hamas must give up its civilian and military power for the war to end.

Meanwhile, US, Israeli, and Lebanese officials are set to discuss the future of Lebanon's border. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. 

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