Within the Assad clan’s former heartland of Latakia, many within the toppled president’s Alawite minority are relieved that his iron-clad rule has come to an finish.
However they worry marginalisation — and even worse, reprisals — from the Islamist-led rebels who overthrew him.
The alliance spearheaded by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which seized Damascus and ousted Bashar al-Assad on December 8 after a lightning offensive, has sought to reassure minority communities within the Sunni Muslim majority nation.
Assad, from the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam, lengthy portrayed himself as a protector of non secular minorities.
Now Alawites worry that their group may face a backlash due to its lengthy affiliation along with his household.
When Assad fell, “it felt like a dream… It was the primary time I felt I actually beloved my nation”, a college pupil in Latakia metropolis advised AFP.
However “many individuals like me from the Alawite minority are apprehensive”, she added.
“As a result of those that liberated us are usually not one unified group, they embody factions with a darkish historical past,” she advised AFP, talking on situation of anonymity for safety causes.
Fabrice Balanche, a Center East professional from France’s College Lumiere Lyon 2, estimated the Alawite group’s numbers at round 1.7 million, or round 9 % of the Syrian inhabitants.
“The Alawites had been very near Bashar’s regime” and had been its “Praetorian Guard”, he mentioned.
“Their affiliation with the regime dangers upsetting collective revenge towards them — much more in order Islamists contemplate them heretics,” he advised AFP.
– On-line hatred –
HTS is rooted in Syria’s former department of Al-Qaeda, the Al-Nusra Entrance, which carried out lethal assaults towards Alawites within the central province of Homs within the early days of the civil warfare that erupted in 2011.
The Islamist group, which minimize ties with Nusra in 2016, mentioned final week it will “assure the rights of all individuals and all sects in Syria”.
However as HTS and its allies seized territory, many Alawites together with from Homs fled to the group’s coastal heartlands of Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Leaders of the Alawite non secular group have requested a common amnesty for all Syrians and ensures of protected return for all those that had been displaced.
The Latakia pupil mentioned her Sunni mates shared on-line messages of unity calling for Syrians to rebuild the nation collectively, however she additionally apprehensive concerning the hatred she noticed.
“I can see the feedback on-line saying ‘Your flip is coming’ or ‘We’ll kill you’,” she mentioned, including that her terrified sister and brother-in-law had been determined to flee the nation.
“There’s lots of sectarian rigidity. Many individuals… suppose everybody in our group is unhealthy,” she added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warfare monitor mentioned it had documented situations of verbal and bodily violence, together with towards civilians, by insurgent fighters within the coastal areas since Assad’s downfall.
– ‘Stealing from us’ –
After the insurgent takeover, individuals in Latakia and Tartus toppled statues of Assad’s father who had dominated the nation earlier than him, celebrating the dynasty’s demise.
The coed mentioned most of her Alawite mates “couldn’t stand” the Assad household “as a result of they had been stealing from us, monopolising the nation’s wealth”.
“They compelled us to reside in distress, with out electrical energy or operating water as costs soared,” she mentioned.
The Alawite group, over-represented within the nation’s armed forces, has additionally seen heavy losses throughout Syria’s prolonged civil battle.
Within the coastal metropolis of Jableh, a instructor in his 40s mentioned the day Assad fell “I cried and didn’t sleep. I felt a mixture of worry and pleasure, and that there was hope for us as a individuals.”
However he additionally mentioned that fighters there had requested a store to cease promoting alcohol, and urged a fitness center to take away a poster that confirmed a girl exercising.
“We’re open to coping with any social gathering and we would like the rule of legislation,” the instructor advised AFP, additionally requesting anonymity due to safety considerations.
“We wish a civil structure,” he mentioned. “We’re involved concerning the introduction of Islamic rule.”
