Shabiha

Shabiha (Levantine Arabic: شَبِّيحَة Šabbīḥa, pronounced [ʃabˈbiːħa]; also romanized Shabeeha or Shabbiha; lit. 'ghosts') is a term for state sponsored militias of the Syrian government loyal to Assad family. The mercenaries consist exclusively of Alawite men paid by the regime to eliminate figures of its domestic opposition and alleged fifth-columnists. Shabiha were established in the 1980s to smuggle weapons to the Syrian soldiers stationed in Lebanon during the Syrian occupation of Lebanon.

The word became common in the 1990s, when it was being used to refer to "thugs" who work with the government and often drove Mercedes-Benz S-Class and gave their guards the same car; that specific car model was nicknamed Shabah (Ghost) in many Arabic countries which led to its drivers being called Shabeeh The Syrian opposition stated that the shabiha are a tool of the government for cracking down on dissent. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has stated that some of the shabiha are mercenaries. Fervently loyalist to Assad dynasty and anti-Sunni, shabiha militias are discreetly financed by pro-Assad figures, with the objective to disguise regime's involvement in its brutal tactics, ranging from massacres to organized rapes of female sympathisers of the opposition. Psychological warfare against Syria's Sunni population are also employed by the Shabiha, which includes demonising Sunni religious beliefs and usage of deriding slogans such as "There is no God but Bashar".