[Regnum] In Syria, unknown persons have removed the remains of former President Hafez al-Assad from his grave in the city of Qardah in Latakia province.
| Boys being boys or malice aforethought? |
Hafez al-Assad is the father of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He was head of state from 1971 to 2000. After his death, he was buried in his hometown of Qardah. A mausoleum was built over his grave.
"The grave of former President Hafez al-Assad was dug up. The grave, which had turned into a black pit, was found to be empty. Unknown persons carried the remains from the grave to an unknown location," the article says.
The TV channel noted that the activists who posted the video online suspect that armed groups operating in the area are removing Assad's remains. In the videos, the grave is desecrated by people in military uniform.
| So malice by the new Hayat Tarhrir al Sham government? How petty. |
As reported by Regnum news agency, on December 7, a crowd tore down a statue of Hafez al-Assad, which stood in the main square in the suburb of Jerman, almost 10 km from the center of Damascus.
On December 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Bashar al-Assad had decided to leave the post of President of Syria and left the republic, giving instructions to peacefully transfer power. After that, he and his family arrived in Moscow, Russia granted them asylum.
Desecration of 17th-century rabbi’s Damascus tomb tests tolerance of new Syria
[IsraelTimes] Authorities commit to investigating after unknown perpetrators dig up burial site of Rabbi Chaim Vital amid push by country’s new leadership to shed Islamist image
When a delegation of US Jews visited Syria at the invitation of the interim government in February, one of their stops was to a small shrine in a corner of Damascus’s Jewish cemetery.
According to tradition, the shrine houses the grave of Rabbi Chaim Ben Yosef Vital, a 17th-century kabbalist who wrote down the words of his teacher Isaac Luria, preserving the work of one of the most prominent Jewish mystics of all time for posterity.
On Thursday, unknown perpetrators broke into the structure and dug up the tomb.
According to Bakhour Chamntoub, one of the handful of Jews who remain in Syria, the incident was reported to the authorities. Officials promised to investigate the apparent vandalism, an encouraging sign from a regime whose Islamist core has sparked worries over whether the new Syria will support tolerance of other religions.
"An unknown group broke into the Jewish cemetery in Damascus," Chamntoub wrote on his Facebook page Friday, posting a picture of the tomb with a large hole next to the monument. "[They] broke the cemetery’s main gate and entered a room containing the grave of Rabbi Chaim Vital."
"They dug the ground next to the grave in search of antiquities," he added. "We informed the authorities responsible for the area. They inspected the site of the vandalism and promised to investigate the perpetrators and to follow up on the matter."
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who deposed Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Lord of the Baath...in December, has worked to rehabilitate his image after years spent fighting in the ranks of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group.