Report notes that Iran’s Government Supports the Syrian Regime on Sectarian Grounds and is Recruiting Shiite Fighters from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the Conflict
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The United States Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) has released its annual report on international religious freedom for the year 2023, with Syria among the nations featured. The report notes that sectarian violence, fueled and exacerbated by the Syrian regime’s procedures, is persisting. Meanwhile, the report sheds light on the destruction of infrastructure and the targeting of individuals on the basis of sectarianism by the regime and other parties to the conflict.
The report draws upon a number of sources, which are listed in descending order below according to the number of times they were cited:
- Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR): 10 citations.
- Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI): Eight citations.
The report also cites other sources, such as the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
The report notes that sectarian violence is continuing in Syria due to the tensions between religious groups, further exacerbated by the regime’s actions, worsening economic conditions, and the ongoing conflict in a broader sense. By the end of 2023, the report further notes, about half of the population living in Syria before the start of the popular uprising in Syria in March 2011 had been displaced. As the report further reveals, the Syrian regime’s government, with the backing of its allies Russia and Iran, continues to commit human rights violations against dissidents, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, with regime forces also destroying places of worship, hospitals, houses, and other civilian infrastructure.