In the capital, Damascus, Alawite protesters scuffled with Sunni counter-protesters and gunshots were heard. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the shooting.
Alawite protests also took place along the coast of Syria, in the city of Homs and the Hama countryside. Some called for the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army now imprisoned by the HTS.
In other Syrian cities, however, demonstrations took place on Wednesday in areas populated by Alawites without any disturbance Former president Bashar al-Assad belongs to the Alawite sect, which has feared reprisals under the new government. Tens of thousands of Alawites demonstrated in the cities of Damascus, Homs, Latakia, Tartus, and Qardaha on the Syrian coast, following the spread of a video of a shrine being burned for the Alawites in Aleppo.
Syrian media, quoting Interior Ministry officials, said over a dozen members of security forces were killed and 10 others injured during clashes in Tartus on Wednesday.
The clashes came after angry protests erupted in many cities across Syria, including Latakia and Homs.
Islamic State (IS) group fighters on Tuesday killed at least 54 people in Syria‘s Homs region, all of whom are said to have been former members of the Bashar al-Assad government and tried to flee upon its collapse on Saturday.
The news comes from the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, and follows a declaration by Hay‘at Tahrir al-Sham-led (HTS) rebels who took over Damascus and said that all those who were conscripted into the Syrian military would receive amnesty.
(December 9, 2024)
Footage Obada Jbara said he filmed between Hama and Homs shows Syrian rebels standing next to people lying on the ground, with their hands tied behind their backs, as civilians walk by.
Syrian militants and their family members are leaving the Rastan area, in northern countryside of Homs province on Monday, May 7, as part of an evacuation deal struck with the Syrian government that will grant them safe passage to the northwestern Idlib province.
Insgesamt soll die Evakuierung der Ortschaften in der Enklave zwischen den Städten Homs und Hama eine Woche dauern.