Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has been feted by establishment media as an ex-radical gone moderate. Yet massacres of civilians by government forces disturb the rosy picture of a return to peace.

On July 15, the armed forces commanded by Syria’s transitional government, under the presidency of former rebel leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, were sent into the Druze-majority province of Sweida. The supposed aim was to restore calm after clashes between local Druze and Bedouin populations in the region. What ensued was a massacre that has strained the credibility of the country’s new government.

Last week, President al-Sharaa came to New York to address the UN General Assembly, where he was heralded as the new leader of a post-Assad Syria. Yet in the wake of massacres like the events in Swei

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