Instead of Fairuz, which used to be played in the mornings, Damascus now wakes up to the sound of sectarian songs, aimed at provoking hatred.

« The Alawite flood exploded, » says one song, boomed by the regime forces across the entire city, from checkpoints and cars.

Hassan, from the Amarah neighborhood, says everybody knows how sectarian the security forces in Damascus have become, especially in the old neighborhoods, where the Shiite militias are concentrated.

These militias once hid their sectarianism under slogans of harmony between the different sects in Syria, but now the words of their songs express nothing but a deep hatred and loud sectarianism.

« Recently, these songs are not only broadcast at the checkpoints. Shabbiha and security cars touring the neighborhoods are broadcasting them too, » says Hassan. The songs prove their loyalty to Iran and the impact of Shiite militias fighting with them.

Meanwhile, Lama detailed insistent attempts by the regime to provoke the residents of her neighborhood.

« I wake up many times in the middle of the night to the sound of these annoying songs. They set up huge speakers on their cars and broadcast them. We now know at which front the regime forces advance from the sound of songs broadcasted after midnight, » she says.

Hadil, an Alawite, says the repetition of these songs so publicly is « disgusting ».

« Art cannot be so bloody, » she explains.

Hassan says that some residents in the capital are playing pro-regime songs in their shops and cars « to guarantee their safety » or « to facilitate their passage through the checkpoints which sometimes hinder the traffic so that people need more than half an hour to pass through some neighborhoods ».

According to activists, the sectarian songs became common in many regime-held areas to immortalize the victories of regime forces and Shiite militias as a kind of psychological war against the opposition forces and their supporters among Syrian people.

Examples of the songs include ‘Settle your victory in Yabroud’ and ‘Continue to Deir-ez-Zor’, which were recently issued by Ali Barakat who defines himself as a religious singer supporting the « victories of Hezbollah ».

The Lebanese Public Prosecutor, Samir Lahhoud, believes Barakat is « provoking sectarianism », especially in his last song « Your Terrorism, Saudi Arabia ». Lahhoud said that Barakat’s songs in support of Hezbollah provoke terrorism and disturb the relationship between Lebanon and other countries, such as Syria and Saudi Arabia.