As Syria underwent a wave of celebrations marking the first anniversary of the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime, called “a year of liberation,” Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, the leader of the Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the diaspora, issued a very different call. On Dec. 5, 2025, he urged Alawites across Syria to boycott the festivities and remain in their homes, declaring a strike that would span the full duration of the celebrations, from D…