Syria still holds its breath. The country celebrates this first anniversary of the fall of dictator Bashar al Assad and the end of the conflict with hope blurred by an uncertain future. The challenges are many for Ahmed al Sharathe former jihadist commander who assumed the Presidency in January 2025. During these twelve months, the people of the country of Sham has tried to heal the wounds marked by 13 years of bloody civil war and sectarian tensions, and half a century of heavy hand of the Assad dynasty. Security, recovery economic, reconstruction and coexistence are the main challenges that the new leader still faces.
However, what is most worrying are the cracks that sectarianism has created, separating and tense coexistence between different communities, overshadowing diversity, which has historically been a hallmark of syria. 70% of the population is from the Sunni branch of Islam and there is no updated census to determine the exact number of minorities, but the main groups are the Alawites (15%), Kurds (10%), Druze (4%) and various congregations of Christians and other ethnic minorities such as Turkmens, Assyrians, Armenians, or Greeks.
The “massacres” against the Alawites
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On December 8, 2024, after only 11 days of incursion, the rebel groups, commanded by the main jihadist group in the country —the Levant Liberation Organization (HTS)—, they conquered the most important cities in Syria and Al Assad was forced to abandon the capital before the insurgents completely controlled Damascus. That same day, a year ago, Yahya M.a 40-year-old Alawite official, woke up very afraid. “I was very scared for me and my family, we are from the Alawite community,” this 39-year-old man explains to RTVE.es from the coastal city of Latakiain northwest Syria, where 50% of its population is Alawite. The Asads were also part of that religious denomination. The Alawites are “followers of Ali”the cousin and son-in-law of Muhammad, and who, like Shiite Muslims, believe that Imam Ali was the legitimate heir of the prophet. We talk about 15% of the population in Syria which, after surviving persecution and the crusades, rose to power during the dynastic rule of the Assad family.
In recent weeks, the port city, the fifth most important in the countryhas been the scene of protests to denounce the discrimination they suffer from the current transitional government. “Everyone took to the streets to celebrate, but the prisons opened their doors, especially the police and security personnel. Young Syrians have entered these areas and taken all kinds of weapons, bombs and caches of bullets. 90% of those celebrating were Sunnis, The rest of us were very afraid,” says Yahya M. This fear apparently “faded away and in the first months we managed to have a peaceful coexistence,” he adds.
However, the shadow of terror soon returned, when sectarian massacres took place in the first half of March, claiming the lives of at least 1.426 people, a number that Syrian Observatory for Human Rights rises to more than 1.700. These events have revived fears among minorities in Syria. The United Nations has denounced that the violence carried out against the monerías has been “extended and systematic”with episodes that could be classified as war crimeswhile the authorities justify the violence after an ambush by Al Assad supporters against the security forces. “They killed indiscriminately and did not distinguish between adults and minors, or civilians and soldiers. In Latakia we have had a bad time. Without electricity, without water…, we were nine days without being able to leave our homes“, denounces Yahya M.
“In Latakia we have had a bad time. Without electricity, without water and we were nine days without being able to leave our homes.“
Since then, demonstrations have taken place, especially in the coastal region, and have become the largest mobilization since the fall of the Alawite absolutist. Yahya M. says that he and all the family members have lost their jobs. The majority of officials in the dictatorship were Alawites. “Now we have no income, they didn’t even give us the opportunity to resign, nor did they give us a certificate of experience,” he says. “In these 12 months no one has returned to our job and what we demand is to go back to work,” he adds. In the protests they also ask for the release of prisoners.
Kurds: “The Government only focuses on military integration”
Amnina Hussein He is a journalist. He was born in the Kurdish city of Qamishloin the north of the country. He was able to return to Syria a year ago and stayed until the end of last October, when he returned to Spain to continue his doctoral studies. “A year ago, I was very afraid that we would become Afghanistan, being a woman and a Kurdish woman. But little by little we saw an opening towards the West,” she says. “This opening surprises me, but I still have the same fear because I still don’t know where the country is going”he adds. The attacks against Alawites and Druze worry him greatly and he fears that they will affect the Kurds. “They show that we cannot live in peace,” he denounces.
“We have not yet heard the words democracy, pluralism or diversity from leaders”explains Hussein. There are between 1.5 and 3 million Kurds in Syria, representing approximately one 10% of the population and they live mainly in the north and northeast of the country. On March 10, the Syrian Democratic Forces (FDS), an armed alliance led by Kurdish-Syrians and supported by the United States, signed a historic agreement to integrate into the Syrian State. The interim president and leader of the FDS, Mazlum Abdi, They reached a six-point agreement that put an end to weeks of peace negotiations between both parties, by which the Kurdish territory would be controlled by Damascus.
“Al Shara only focuses on the point that includes the integration of the Armed Forces and the reality is that for the Kurds, laying down their weapons is a red line because they still have threats,” explains Hussein. They fear the threat of Islamic State cells still in the area and armed militias supported by Türkiye. Furthermore, remember that the Kurds do not appear in the draft of the new Constitution, nor are there representatives of this community in parliament. “The Kurds not only feel a minority, but discriminated against, they are quite isolated and abandoned by the Sunni Executive“, he laments.
The Druze: between Tel Aviv and Damascus
The Druze are another of the threatened communities, but with the exception of having the protection of Israel. They speak Arabic and their faith originated as a branch of Shiite Islam, a confession that is estimated to be practiced by around 700,000 people. Most of them live in the Druze mountain (Jabal al Druze) in Syria, and its main stronghold is Sueida, a province south of Damascus. Thence, Jasmine al Kadi rtells RTVE.es that the situation is “devastating”. This 24-year-old fears for her life and that of her family. Since this summer, their city has become a bloodbath. The spark exploded between the Druze tribes and the Bedouin community, causing a crossfire of sectarian fire, after an alleged kidnapping of a Druze merchant on the highway leading to the capital, Damascus. That road, this young woman says, is still closed.
Israel, which has occupied more territory in the Golan Heights, has not stopped bombing the surroundings of Sueida to stop the armed forces of Damascus, sent to stop sectarian clashes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself acknowledges that he has ordered attacks on weapons depots because the Syrian Government “intended to use them against the Druze.” “It’s an illusion, no one thinks about civilians,” Al Kadi says sarcastically. Although he believes that there have been moments in this time that yes “they have protected us”. On several occasions, Tel Aviv has warned that it would not tolerate any threats against this community.
Jasmine just wants to wake up without the fear of dying from an attack with “a grenade, a bullet or anything else at the hands of the Syrian regime. A year ago I started to hate this place and I don’t feel like I belong to anything here,” she says in a call that is constantly interrupted. But despite everything, the young woman manages to confess that she has “the heart full of hope”.
There is much left to do
“The stability of the country needs many things and we have many enemies like Israel. It worries me a lot, but I continue to celebrate the fall of the regime,” explains the co-founder and editor in Baynana magazine. Ayham Al Sati. This journalist, of Sunni origin, still remembers the joy that the news of Assad’s fall brought him, although he confesses that a year later he feels afraid. This is what he confesses while traveling to Damascus to cover the first anniversary of his fall from there. The challenges are multiple after 60 years of dictatorship and 14 years of war, the Sunni community finally has a Government that represents them. “Las relations between communities are broken, each sees the other as the enemy. There were already many problems of sectarianism before and it has always existed“he adds.
What we need is a “transnational justice after a totalitarian regime”he points out. The situation of the Druze is, perhaps, one of the most difficult, the journalist acknowledges. “We are all against this after so many years of hostilities. It is important that the current Government and society achieve good coexistence. We need justice, justice and justice,” says Al Sati.
There is also some concern about the authoritarian drift to which the transitional Executive pointed. “I am in favor of the fact that it takes five years to be able to do something,” says the Baynana co-founder, but he fears that Al Shara will prevent the country from holding democratic elections or “let there be a new dictatorship with a new face”. According to the Kurdish Hussein, in one year, there has been little progress in the reconstruction, nor does it seem that the economy improves. The UN estimates that 90% of the population is living below the poverty line. Neither have jobs been created nor public services improved. “I know it’s not a long time, but the days go by and in the end what people care about is their daily bread. Work, basic services, water, electricity, basic things,” alleges the Kurdish journalist. The population, they agree, deserves to turn the page.
