Three months after Islamist insurgents seized control of Syria, toppling the long-standing regime of Bashar al-Assad, terrible violence seems to have returned to haunt the West Asian country, this time the focus is against a particular minority group. The country has descended into one of its most lethal periods of conflict in years, with more than 1,000 deaths reported within just two days amid clashes between government security forces and loyalists of the deposed president. What started as a confrontation between security forces and pro-Assad fighters rapidly transformed into widespread sectarian violence, as Sunni militants launched revenge attacks against Alawite civilians.
The Alawites make up for about 12 per cent of Syria’s population. They trace their roots to Shia Islam but have their unique beliefs and practices. The Assad family, (Hafez al-Assad ruled from 1971 until his death in 2000 and then his son, Bashar al-Assad ruled from 2000 to 2024) belongs to this minority sect. According to Syrian security sources, at least two hundred of their personnel lost their lives in confrontations with former army soldiers loyal to Assad but now de-enlisted, following a series of coordinated attacks and ambushes on their forces on 6 March. The situation escalated into a spiral of revenge killings as thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leadership from various regions converged on the coastal areas to bolster the struggling forces of the new administration.
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On 8 March, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that since the outbreak of fighting, 745 Alawite civilians have been killed by security forces and allied groups. The war monitor indicated that these individuals were executed by security personnel or pro-government fighters, who also engaged in the looting of homes and properties. Overall, the death toll since 6 March has risen to 1,018, which includes 125 security personnel and 148 fighters loyal to Assad. The recent wave of revenge killings initiated by Sunni Muslim gunmen aligned with the government against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect represents a significant setback for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the group that played a key role in toppling the previous regime.
For decades, Alawites constituted a substantial chunk of Assad’s support base, holding prominent positions within the military and security services. The new government has accused Assad’s loyalists of carrying out attacks against the country’s newly established security forces in recent weeks. HTS, which has its origins in extremist factions, has raised concerns since December about potential persecution of minorities by the Sunni Islamist political and paramilitary group. Nevertheless, its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a designated terrorist in the US, has swiftly taken steps to project a new image for Damascus.
The fact is that the new government in Damascus is encountering its first significant challenge. It has already dealt with several smaller issues, including navigating relations with the Druze minority in southern Syria, managing interactions with the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), and engaging in discussions with the US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces.
One thing remains the same in Syria and that is the endless cycle of violence and its victim also remains the same — the average Syrian. The brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez al-Assad that lasted almost half a century was infamous for the torture it inflicted on every dissenting voice in the country of multiple religions and ethnicities. Bashar, who followed in his father’s footsteps, grew into an autocratic figure even as a civil war raged in the country since March 2011, claiming over 622,000 lives and displacing more than 14 million people. While the Syrians celebrated the ousting of the Assad regime on the streets of Damascus and Aleppo in December last year, little did they expect that violence would return to their lives so soon. Anyone looking back at the history of this region of West Asia, the land that gave birth to Islam, Christianity and many other religions, might be able to somewhat understand the average citizens and their innate violent outlook on life. From a distance it seems, like no other place on this earth, the people living in this part of the world look and search for mindless violence. Therefore, the Gods they had created offer them, the people, what they crave for.
