section_path: History/Post-Assad Syria
section_name: Post-Assad Syria
paragraph_text: Post-Assad Syria
  
  On 25 December 2024, thousands of people protested across Syria in various regions including Latakia, Tartus, Jableh and Homs after a video surfaced showing an attack on the Alawite shrine of Al-Khasibi in Aleppo's Maysaloon district following the rebel offensive and the fall of the regime of Bashar al-Assad. During the shrine attack at least five people were killed and the shrine was set ablaze. The UK-based SOHR reported significant demonstrations, including in Qardaha, President Assad's hometown.
  
  The transitional authorities, appointed by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which led the offensive that toppled Assad, said in a statement that the shrine attack was from earlier December, attributing its resurfacing to "unknown groups" aiming to incite unrest. This incident followed protests in Damascus against the burning of a Christmas tree, highlighting ongoing sectarian tensions in Syria. Demonstrators chanting slogans including “Alawite, Sunni, we want peace” and placards with "No to burning holy places and religious discrimination, no to sectarianism, yes to a free Syria".
  
  There have also been hundreds of reports across Syria of civilians belonging to the Alawite sect and other religious minorities being murdered and persecuted by HTS forces following the collapse of the Assad regime. Most notably, a massacre of Alawites was reported in the village of Fahil near Homs by HTS-affiliated gunmen. The UK-based formerly pro-opposition monitor SOHR confirmed the deaths of at least 16 people.
  
  In March 2025, the UK-based SOHR reported that Syrian security forces and pro-government fighters had committed a massacre of more than 1,500 Alawite civilians during clashes in western Syria. There were reports that Alawites who had opposed the Assad regime in the past were murdered in sectarian attacks. Belteleradio described the violence as ethnic cleansing. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa said that the Alawite sect had made an "unforgivable mistake" and urged them to lay down their weapons and surrender before it was too late. Later that month, nearly 13,000 Alawites crossed the Nahr al-Kabir into Lebanon to escape sectarian violence.