<![CDATA[Syria Revisited: Interviews]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/s/interviewshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!f58w!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa001939d-2300-41fb-91ee-12d42335d86b_4032x3024.jpegSyria Revisited: Interviewshttps://www.syriarevisited.com/s/interviewsSubstackThu, 09 Apr 2026 06:35:48 GMT<![CDATA[Civil Peace in Wadi Nasara]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/civil-peace-in-wadi-nasarahttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/civil-peace-in-wadi-nasaraSun, 22 Mar 2026 20:06:09 GMTDiscussions over the position of Syria’s Christians within the new country have returned following this week’s decision by the Governor of Damascus to restrict the sale of alcohol to Christian neighborhoods. The decision, which has since been paused, triggered widespread criticism. The most nuanced and important critiques came from the Damascene Christian community themselves, who rejected the sectarian lines explicitly drawn by the decision and the reduction of their neighborhoods to, “places for alcohol and nightlife,” as Minister Hind Kabawat wrote.

Syria’s Christians have long adopted a stance of general neutrality throughout the country’s fraught history, largely as a survival mechanism. Most Christian communities were therefore able to avoid significant involvement within the Assad regime’s security apparatus (particularly its militias, unlike other minority groups who became the backbone of the regime’s forces during the war). After the country’s liberation, Christians have asked for little, wanting only for their rights to be conditionally protected and to be kept safe from attacks.

One exception to this trend is the large Christian area of Wadi Nasara in western Homs. This valley contains more than two dozen Christian villages nestled on the northern and eastern sides of a mountain atop which sits the famous Crusader fortress Krak des Chevaliers and Hosn, a Sunni Turkmen town. Hosn and the neighboring Sunni Turkmen town of Zara had risen against the Assad regime early in the war and were quickly besieged. Given its geographic position, the regime used Wadi Nasara to maintain the siege and attack Hosn, including through the establishment of a Christian militia under the National Defense Forces (NDF) umbrella.

There are now decade-old grievances between Hosn and Wadi Nasara as a result of these battles, as outlined in one of my previous pieces:

Last month I visited Wadi Nasara, following a visit to Zara and Hosn in December, and met with a local priest involved in civil peace efforts between the communities. The following is an edited transcript of our meeting. This long interview covers the core problems between Hosn and Wadi Nasara and recent attempts at civil peace dialogues between the two communities, as well as topics on government relations and social issues within the community.

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]]><![CDATA["Activate the Local Election": Trust-building in Dreikish]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/activate-the-local-election-trusthttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/activate-the-local-election-trustSat, 14 Mar 2026 13:25:37 GMTTartous’ Dreikish District is a unique region of Syria’s coast. Physically, it is the only region to contain a four-lane highway connecting the district capitol to the governorate capitol. This well-developed infrastructure reflects the unique social fabric of the district. The area was once a tourism hub, known for its lush mountains and forests, but also for a strong art and culture scene and having a higher concentration of academics and writers than elsewhere in the coast. At the same time, many senior regime military officials hail from Dreikish, which is what gave the area the political power to earn such infrastructure.

This unique blend of cultures has driven the area’s experiences since the fall of Assad. The district lost more than 6,000 men during the war fighting under the Assad regime, and thousands more underwent ‘taswiya’ after December 8. Yet the district has the strongest youth civil movements in Tartous and also saw one of the only grass-roots civil peace committees form, with strong, persistent engagement with local security officials since December 2024. This engagement was undermined significantly by the insurgency on March 6, 2025, and has floundered in the year since. See my recent report for a lengthy account of what happened in Dreikish on March 6:

I have visited Dreikish several times over the past year, meeting with youth activists and members of the civil peace committee. Below is an interview I conducted in mid-February 2026 with a former member of the committee. We discuss the security situation, impact of the SDF’s defeat in the northeast, the weakened role of the civil peace committee, the economy, and most importantly, clear steps the government could take to rebuild trust with the Alawi community.

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]]><![CDATA[Surging Violence in Homs]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/surging-violence-in-homshttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/surging-violence-in-homsFri, 06 Mar 2026 14:50:59 GMTHoms City remains the most complex part of Syria. The city and its surrounding countryside contain communities from nearly every one of Syria’s various ethnic and religious sects, which the Assad regime quickly exploited when the revolution broke out in 2011. Regime officials mobilized Alawi youth across the region to assist in its crackdown against anti-regime communities. Sunni communities in the city and its countryside endured numerous massacres and ethnic cleansings over the course of the war.

The fall of Assad and return of many displaced Sunnis opened the door to new waves of revenge campaigns, fueled by a lack of transitional justice and local civil peace initiatives to address the history of violence in the area. As a result, Homs city has seen regular sectarian and targeted violence against minorities. This violence has ebbed and flowed over the past year, with several extended periods of significantly reduced violence in the city. However, the past two months have seen some of the worst bouts of killings and security chaos since the fall of the regime.

I met with several local activists in the city in mid-February to discuss the situation. One noticeable new trend is the concentration of killings in Akrama neighborhood, a mixed-sect commercial area in southern Homs surrounded by several very poor Alawi and Sunni neighborhoods. Below is an edited transcript of an interview I conducted with an Alawi dentist and his daughter who live in Akrama. I previously published an interview with them in December in which we covered the history of the neighborhood and the need for targeted civil peace initiatives. In this interview we discuss the root causes of Homs’ violence and impact of the violence on Alawi communities, particularly in pushing some to sell their homes and leave the city.

A house in Karm al-Louz neighborhood still bears the graffiti of regime forces. The eastern edge of Karm al-Louz, which sits between Akrama and Karm Zeitoun, remains largely empty of its residents ever since the regime’s military campaign in 2012.

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]]><![CDATA[A Precarious Calm in Baniyas]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-precarious-calm-in-baniyashttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-precarious-calm-in-baniyasMon, 23 Feb 2026 17:10:51 GMTBaniyas remains one of the most complex and tense regions of Syria’s coast, if not all of western Syria. Yet in recent months the overt tensions in the city have receded. This seems to be a continuation of the “facade” some local activists described to me in November.

Yet the sense of calm that has come over Baniyas is part of a wider change across all Alawi regions of western Syria, and a facade of calm that lasts for more than four months has the potential of solidifying into something more substantial. Yet the lack of any serious civil peace or inter-communal efforts in the city risks throwing away the current opportunity.

In this two-part interview, I speak with the same Christian and pro-revolution Alawi activists that I have profiled several times before. Speaking regularly with these men provides a unique insight into changing perceptions from the same people who are centrally placed within their respective communities. We discuss the nuances of the coast’s “return to life”, the challenges of pursuing civil peace in Baniyas, and the role of Fadi Saqr and Ghazal Ghazal in Tartous.

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]]><![CDATA[Rural Baniyas in the Shadow of March 6]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rural-baniyas-in-the-shadow-of-marchhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/rural-baniyas-in-the-shadow-of-marchFri, 20 Feb 2026 16:15:18 GMTSecurity has improved significantly across the Syria in recent months, especially in Alawi regions, and many locals have expressed increased trust in the Ministry of Interior. Yet the massacres on March 6 by pro-government forces remain unaddressed. Communities which endured mass killings have ‘returned to life’ so-to-speak, but out of an economic and social necessity, not because of any resolution to their suffering. How do these communities view the current situation and the state’s security forces one year later?

I visited one such place, Harisoun, earlier this week. It is a small town north of Baniyas and close to rural Jableh (there is another “Harisoun” marked on google south of Baniyas, but this is not where the town actually is). It, like most of the Baniyas countryside, is dominated by greenhouse farming. I met with an engineer who runs several nurseries in the area. Our interview covers the massacre on March 8, how locals view security forces in the year since, and a detailed discussion of the agricultural industry, challenges farmers are facing, and what type of support could help the local economy.

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]]><![CDATA[Unfinished Civil Peace in Northern Homs]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/unfinished-civil-peace-in-northernhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/unfinished-civil-peace-in-northernWed, 18 Feb 2026 16:56:36 GMTForty minutes northeast of Homs city sits the town of Mushrefa, a mixed-sect town in the middle of a diverse region. It served for years as a key regime base, using both Alawi locals recruited into militias as well as a military base adjacent to the town to help besiege northern Homs. During the final days of the regime, advancing opposition forces fought a brief but bloody battle at this base as they advanced south along the highway from Salamiyah. Mushrefa, a mixed town of Alawis, Christians, and Sunnis, has since led a quiet existence amid the chaotic events witnessed in other minority regions of Homs after the fall of Assad.

The town is close to the opposition bastion of Talbiseh, and the two communities have a long history of economic and personal ties. Since the fall of Assad, Sunnis from Talbiseh have reopened shops in Mushrefa, and security forces have succeeded in building a good degree of trust with locals. My recent interview transcript with one such business owner in Talbiseh explores these inter-communal dynamics from that city’s perspective.

Yet while there is no overt inter-sect conflict in Mushrefa, there have been no initiatives designed to repair the more subtle war-time divides between sects, particularly the problems created by the actions of Alawi militiamen against Christian and Sunni residents of the town. The lack of any transitional justice efforts whatsoever, combined with the absence of any inter- or intra-communal dialogues, have prevented the town and surrounding areas from fully healing the scars left by the regime.

Central Mushrefa during my first visit in December 17, 2024.

I visited Mushrefa earlier this month to learn about inter-faith relations and the town’s history after the fall of Assad. The following is an edited interview with a retired Christian engineer who works in one of the town’s churches.

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]]><![CDATA[Talbiseh's Rebirth After Assad]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/talbisehs-rebirth-after-assadhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/talbisehs-rebirth-after-assadSat, 14 Feb 2026 15:02:52 GMTThe northern countryside of Homs is famous for its role in the Syrian revolution and the regime’s brutal response. The cities of Rastan and Talbiseh in particular were early sites of protests and regime massacres, including one of the regime’s earliest major military operations in September 2011. Talbiseh, which sits along the M5 Highway just 20 minutes north of Homs City, spent more than 5 years as the southernmost point of opposition control in what became the northern Homs pocket. While opposition factions were largely defeated within the city of Homs by 2014, Talbiseh and this pocket would remain until mid-2018 when a Russian-brokered deal saw the regime take control.

While a bedrock of the opposition, this area also contains many non-Sunni communities from nearly every sect. The two closest towns to Talbiseh, for example, are majority Christian and Alawi. To the east is Mushrefa, a mixed Christian, Alawi, and Sunni town which saw a gradual exodus of Christians throughout the war due to the violence and harassment from local regime fighters. Umm Sharshuh to the west was a Christian town, destroyed through regime looting and airstrikes. Enab Baladi profiled Umm Sharshuh in 2020, detailing its takeover by regime militiamen from local Alawi villages, the eviction of its residents, looting of their homes, and later regime airstrikes which destroyed the town entirely.

These three towns have a long history of integration dating back decades. Their personal and economic relationships were strained through the war, but never fully disappeared. They now serve as the foundation of renewed inter-communal ties as the region rebuilds. I visited Talbiseh, Umm Sharshuh, and Mushrefa earlier this week to learn about their history, interfaith relations, and life after Assad. Below is an edited interview with a businessman from Talbiseh who works in Mushrefa and whose family has ties to all three towns. He had moved to Turkey briefly late in the war but returned to Talbiseh in 2022 and remained in the town through its liberation.

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]]><![CDATA[Nuanced Sectarianism in Homs]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/nuanced-sectarianism-in-homshttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/nuanced-sectarianism-in-homsSat, 20 Dec 2025 18:37:33 GMTEarlier this month I met with a dentist and his daughter, both Alawi activists, living in Akrama. I had previously met them in May in rural Tartous when I had hosted a dialogue session between activists from Ismaili, Alawi, and Christian communities. Throughout the session the two of them brought a uniquely different perspective to the discussion compared to the Tartousi Alawis.

This pattern is something I have increasingly noticed in my work with activists in the coast and in Homs. Homs’ complex sectarian fabric and relationships is clearly reflected in the way its Alawi community views Syria’s current challenges. Rather than the “violent landscape of sectarian killings” that some observers have claimed, these locals describe a much more complex city in which geography and history plays just as, if not a more important, role than sect. As the dentist explained when reacting to the above article, “Bad things are happening but it is not as described as a landscape of violence. This speech is very extreme. Life is not as miserable as they describe it. It might not be that happy but it is going on.”

Our conversation began with the current conditions of Akrama neighborhood before turning to other neighborhoods in the city, highlighting the role of poverty in fueling violent crime. These neighborhood-level assessments are an important first step in understanding the complexities of violence and sectarianism in the city, and the reflections here should be compared with others I have written on Abbassiyah and Zahraa neighborhoods. We also discuss the perceptions of the General Security forces and the lack of NGO support for social cohesion activities in the city. An edited version of the interview can be found below.

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]]><![CDATA[A Tumultuous Year of Freedom in Sabburah]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-tumultuous-year-of-freedom-in-sabburahhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-tumultuous-year-of-freedom-in-sabburahThu, 11 Dec 2025 15:53:13 GMTThere are few regions in Syria as complex as Salamiyah. The city and surrounding countryside contain nearly every religious sect in the country, the area has a long history of anti-Assad activism beginning with Ismaili and Alawi communists in the 1980s and extending to huge protests in 2011. Yet the regime was able to mobilize shabiha and later local militias to support a military crackdown on the city and the Bedouin villages in the rural eastern regions. This regime occupation ended with the city’s peaceful handover to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham on December 5, 2024.

The Alawi town of Sabburah sits 20 minutes northeast of Salamiyah. Like Salamiyah, Sabburah has a complex history. It was the center of the regime’s militia mobilization against protestors in 2011 and 2012, but was also the home of nearly 50 communist political prisoners during the era of Hafez and Bashar. I visited Sabburah in and met with a small group of former political detainees who had formed a local council in the months after Assad to lead the town. At the time, their efforts were focused on outreach to the neighboring Bedouin community - who Alawi militiamen from Sabburah had attacked throughout the war - and building ties to the new government.

Two weeks after I left, the March 6 coastal insurgency erupted. As pro-government armed units flooded the coast, so to did General Security units and armed Bedouin enter Sabburah.

I recently returned to the town to meet with the new mayor, Karim Akari, one of those political detainees who had formed the post-Assad council, and discuss with him life in Sabburah since March 6. He provides an extremely nuanced perspective of security and intercommunal relations in one of Syria’s most complex regions. Below is an edited transcript of this interview.

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]]><![CDATA[Standing Alone in Jableh's Countryside]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/standing-alone-in-jablehs-countrysidehttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/standing-alone-in-jablehs-countrysideThu, 04 Dec 2025 18:33:24 GMTThe Jableh countryside has had a tumultuous history since the fall of Assad one year ago. It has been the heart of the pro-Assad insurgency dating back to December 2024, and also suffered the worst of the anti-Alawi massacres committed by pro-government armed groups beginning in March.

One town in particularly gained infamy on March 6 as the starting point of the coastal uprising which triggered that massacre: Daliyah. On the evening of March 6, a General Security convoy arrived to conduct an arrest of a local man. The man refused to cooperate and an argument broke out. While arguing, a group of insurgents ambushed the security forces, killing them. A second security vehicle was then ambushed further down the road. Within an hour General Security and army units had come under attack across nearly all of Latakia and Tartous.

Daliyah itself did not suffer any massacres in the aftermath, as happened in other Alawi villages closer to the main coastal highway in the ensuing days. But on June 5 a dispute between dismissed employees and the manager of the town’s post office turned physical and a General Security and military convoy was dispatched to the town. These forces ended up killing three random men and looting several shops by the end of the day.

Throughout all of these events, a small network of media activists attempt to keep the peace in this area. They operate Facebook pages for their respective areas through which they try to counter fake news and share accurate updates about the security situation in the Jableh countryside. They do this through regular contact with locals, town mayors, and regional Ministry of Interior officials. These officials reached out to the men after seeing the good work their pages are doing and now see them as a valuable tool for trust building.

Still, these media activists see themselves as a third party to the conflict in the coast. On the one side is the government, on the other is the pro-Assad Alawites. The media activists stand in the middle, highly critical of both, supporting neither, simply trying to do what they can to support their towns. Their work is similar in fashion to that of the mayor of Beit Yashout, who I met and profiled in September, though these activists hold no official position.

Earlier this week I met with two of these men in Daliyah to learn about the conditions of the town and perspectives of the local community towards their media work and the new government.

Below is an edited version of this interview.

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]]><![CDATA["Anything is Possible," except in Baniyas?]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/anything-is-possible-except-in-baniyashttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/anything-is-possible-except-in-baniyasTue, 25 Nov 2025 10:58:45 GMTI visited Baniyas last week, my fifth visit since the fall of Assad, to meet with some activists I have come to know over the past year. Last week I published a partial transcript of one of these interview with a group older Alawi men, long-time anti-Assad leftist political activists, who discussed their view of the social and political challenges in Baniyas after the March 6 massacres.

Later that day I met with a Christian activist, the same man who I interviewed for my report on the insurgency and massacres in the city in March. You may recall in that report how this man, “S”, was highly critical of both the Alawi insurgents and the state-backed forces that responded.

What follows is a partial transcript of my most recent interview with “S”, discussing many of the same topics as I discussed with the Alawi men that same day as well as a deeper examination of the bifurcated Sunni urban and rural community. “S” provides some important push back and critiques of the other men’s perspectives, while also confirming much of their critics of the local government. I highly encourage readers to read both interviews together to get more accurate view both of the current conditions in Baniyas and of the complexities of drawing full pictures from only some perspectives.

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]]><![CDATA[Reflections of Baniyas Activists]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/reflections-of-baniyas-activistshttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/reflections-of-baniyas-activistsWed, 19 Nov 2025 05:20:48 GMTThe security situation across most Alawi parts of Syria continues to improve since the coastal massacres on March 6, largely a result of continued professionalization and centralization of the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense. However, social and political dynamics are much more varied. In Tartous, it is the mixed-sect city of Baniyas where social and political life remains at a near stand-still - and in some ways continues to worsen.

On a recent visited to the city I met with six Alawi activists. All are from Qusour Neighborhood, survivors of the massacre there which left more than 200 Alawi civilians dead between March 7 and 8. I have met regularly with one of these men, “J”, a well-known revolutionary activist from the city who helped organize some of the first anti-Assad protests here in 2011. You can read his description of the March massacre here:

On each subsequent visit since May, J has described a gradual return to life in the city. The question now is whether this gradual normalization reflects genuine social improvements and healing after the massacres, or if it is simply out of necessity, as people cannot live hiding in their homes forever.

On this visit, the six men discussed with me the current situation in the city, the challenges facing inter-faith dialogue and the absence of local government engagement with civil society. Each man presented a differing perspective on the challenges faced and path forward, with an interesting divergence of opinions on whether to prioritize reforms within the Alawi sect or inter-faith issues first.

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]]><![CDATA[Lagging Civil Peace in Aleppo]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/lagging-civil-peace-in-aleppohttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/lagging-civil-peace-in-aleppoWed, 22 Oct 2025 17:43:16 GMTPost-Assad civil peace efforts vary drastically across Syria, heavily dependent on the attitudes and personalities of local activists and local officials. Many of the positive steps made on this file have come as a reaction to serious local problems, rather than as a coherent, structured plan to resolve tensions and prevent violence before it occurs.

Aleppo City has largely avoided the media spotlight given to the violent inter-communal clashes that have plagued parts of the coast and western Homs and Hama. The city’s most significant source of insecurity stems from ongoing vigilante killings, though these almost exclusively target Sunni ex-regime criminals.

Still, the absence of more serious intercommunal violence does not mean there are not serious social tensions within the city. I spoke with an activist from Aleppo earlier this month about what mechanisms, if any, exist in Aleppo to deal with disputes and address more structural civil peace problems. This man is a veteran of the Aleppo civil peace scene and has previously organized inter-faith dialogues and trainings across western Syria. He addresses several important topics, but the key takeaway is this: There is a stark difference between resolving disputes and building genuine civil peace, and there is little work being done on the latter.

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]]><![CDATA[Holding the Peace in Beit Yashout]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/holding-the-peace-in-beit-yashouthttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/holding-the-peace-in-beit-yashoutFri, 10 Oct 2025 13:31:04 GMTThe conditions and experiences of Alawi communities post-Assad have been far from universal. While if you were to ask any random Alawi in a rural area if he felt safe or fearful he would almost certainly answer with the later, the reasons for this are not the same. Some communities have suffered from massacres, frequent kidnappings, or random sectarian- and revenge-motivated killings. But most Alawi communities have largely been spared these crimes. Here, fear is fed from watching what is happening, or claimed to be happening online, in other Alawi areas.

In these largely safe communities, certain local figures and local security officials play central roles in maintaining these conditions. This often requires both a proactive and cooperation security official and a local Alawi figure willing to assert themselves to this new government. One such figure is the mayor of Beit Yashout, Maher Ibrahim. I spent the day with him in mid-September, discussing his role as intermediary, how the new government has dealt with his town and the surrounding areas, and what happened in Beit Yashout on March 6.

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]]><![CDATA[Idlib's Christians Between Safety and Oppression: Interview]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/idlibs-christians-between-safetyhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/idlibs-christians-between-safetyTue, 12 Aug 2025 14:01:25 GMTIdlib’s Christian community has lived outside the control of Assad since their villages were liberated by local opposition factions in late 2012. Yet this freedom soon came with its own challenges: criminal gangs and abusive armed groups robbed and kidnapped Christians, while many Syrian and foreign fighters seized their homes and farmland. These villages then endured a brief period of ISIS rule followed by years of rule under a mix of armed factions including Jabhat al-Nusra. Finally, with the formation of the Syrian Salvation Government in 2018 and Nusra’s transformation into Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Ahmed al-Shara’a and his chief religious advisor Sheikh Abdul Rahman Atoun began engaging with the remaining Christian families in northwest Idlib.

These meetings focused on addressing the years of violations against the community - from Free Syrian Army groups, ISIS, and Nusra itself. Gradually, between 2019 and 2023 most of the stolen homes and farmland were returned to their owners or Christian caretakers, security improved, and some public religious rites were allowed again.

The fall of Assad and HTS’s takeover of the entire country has brought renewed focus on the status of Christians under the rule of what was once a hardcore Islamist insurgent group. However, the experiences of Christian communities across Syria are extremely varied, as are the community’s opinions on the new government.

St Joseph’s Church in Qunaya. Photo Credit Nick Waters

In July, I visited the three Christian villages north of Jisr Shoughur in Idlib’s countryside. I had previously visited these villages in 2022 when I met with the local priests and HTS officials to discuss their ongoing dialogues. The dialogues were led by Abu Hanna Jalouf, then the head priest for the area but who now serves as the Bishop of Aleppo. In this latest visit I met with an older local woman in the village of Jdayda. One of the most interesting parts of our discussion was the distinction she drew between feelings of security despite the cultural oppression imposed by their neighbors. Below is a edited transcript of our interview, discussing the unique conditions of Christians in this forgotten area.

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]]><![CDATA[Masyaf's Liberation Through Ismaili Eyes]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/masyafs-liberation-through-ismailihttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/masyafs-liberation-through-ismailiTue, 13 May 2025 11:00:56 GMTMasyaf was well-known among opposition circles as a “shabiha hotbed”. The region provided some of the most notorious pro-regime militia leaders, particularly within the Desert Hawks and Tiger Forces, and also became one of, if not the, most prominent recruitment hubs for soldiers as the war went on. However, the city itself is majority Ismaili and had a deep history of anti-Assad activity - both before the war among Ismaili communists and leftists and in 2011 with many anti-regime protests.

Like Salamiyah, Masyaf has a prominent Ismaili Council. However, unlike Salamiyah, the Ismailis of Masyaf are Moumeni, not Aga Khani, and therefore have no connection to the Aga Khan. While they maintain relations with the Aga Khan councils in other parts of the country, they do not have the sort of close international support that Aga Khani Ismailis do. Nonetheless, this city has also developed a close relationship with the new Damascus authorities. Like with Salamiyah and Qadmus, this new relationship really underscores the primacy of politics, not religion, in how sectarianism plays out in Syria today.

I visited Masyaf in early May, meeting with Ismaili activists and members of the council. Below is a edited transcript of some of our discussions on the evolving relations with local officials, the security situation, and what happened on March 6.

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]]><![CDATA[A Christian Activist's Hopes for the Future]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-christian-activists-hopes-for-thehttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/a-christian-activists-hopes-for-theTue, 06 May 2025 14:30:40 GMTFollowing on from my interview with a Sunni activist in Latakia, below is an interview with a Christian activist from the city who was a long time anti-regime political writer and former detainee. I have met with Christians across western Syria over the past two weeks, each with a different view of the overall situation and the situation for Christians in particular. This interview represents one of the more pro-government views I have encountered. I found in general that the Sunni-Christian relationship in Latakia is quite strong as a result of generations of close living. This comfort seems to have influenced, at least this man’s, trust in the new government.

We also discuss his views of President Shara’a, informal dialogue and communication structures, transitional justice, and his perspective on state building challenges post-Assad.

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]]><![CDATA[Sunni Activist from Latakia Reflects on March 6]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/sunni-activist-from-latakia-reflectshttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/sunni-activist-from-latakia-reflectsMon, 05 May 2025 05:15:56 GMTIn early May I met with several Sunni and Christian activists in Latakia city to discuss conditions in the city and inter-communal dialogue efforts following the March 6 coastal massacres. I had met several of these people during my trip in February, and at that time all of us were worried about an imminent attack by ex-regime elements which could be used as an excuse for widespread anti-Alawite massacres. As the interviewee quoted below references, many of the underlying problems we discussed in February are still present today.

Here, I share the thoughts of one Sunni activist who has been engaged in inter-communal dialogue efforts since January. These first began with inter-neighborhood initiatives, but after March 6 he began a new program in some of the Alawite villages in the countryside. He also serves as a member of the Engineers Syndicate in the city and was a former university professor until being fired by the regime after refusing to join the Baath Party.

Abdul’s interview provides a useful insight into how some Sunni activists view the massacre and the government’s role in it and their approach to dialogue.

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]]><![CDATA[An Alawite's Perspective of Security in Homs City]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/an-alawites-perspective-of-securityhttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/an-alawites-perspective-of-securityWed, 09 Apr 2025 23:31:48 GMTIn mid-February I published an interview with an Alawite woman in Homs City. She has lived her entire life in the city, including through the brutal fighting from 2012-2015. We discussed her thoughts on the security situation for Alawites after December 8, especially amid increasing reports of violence in the city and later in western Homs, where she has some family. A the time, she provided a unique and very grounded perspective heavy with optimism for the future.

I spoke with her again this week about how the violence in the coast last month has affected her and her community, what happened in Homs during the coastal massacres, how she feels about the new interim government, and if she is still as optimistic as she was two months ago. As we spoke, it became clear that there is a distinct difference in how some Alawites in Homs view the situation compared to those in the coast. Those in Homs City have lived through a decade and a half of sectarian violence and massacres, but the city also began to reconnect after 2016, according to the interviewee, with neighborhoods of all sects coming out of isolation and engaging with each other once more. These experiences, in addition to the security forces diligent work protecting Alawite neighborhoods on March 6, seem to have left some in the community here with a different perspective of the violence. Of course, every person’s opinion on these charged topics differs, but this interviewee provides an optimistic angle rarely given voice in media coverage.

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The March Massacres

Can you describe your experience in Homs on March 6 when the violence began? Did you expect something like this would happen? How did your friends and family react as news of the massacres spread?

I was in shock, things happened all of a sudden and I wasn't able to follow the news, and after months of spreading false news I wasn't able to believe it in the beginning, but after seeing too many pictures of doctors and pharmacists that have been killed I was really shocked, I didn't expect something as savage as this could happen, and things seems to be out of control and whether the government couldn’t or didn’t want to control it I couldn't tell. It was terrifying, those three days were like hell and the violence spread between the internet users made it even worse.

You lived through all of the events in Homs city during the war, how did that week compare? Did you feel like you were back in 2012, or was it a different feeling entirely?

It was completely different, in 2012 till 2015 we were under unknown attack but no one ever entered our neighborhoods, there were snipers, bombs, exploding cars or terrorists, kidnapping but no one ever attacked the neighborhood or entered it as a group of criminals.

What was life like in the Alawite neighborhoods in Homs during that week, and in the time since then?

We were very scared, I didn't go to work, we thought our turn would be next and the massacre would reach Homs soon, we were very sad and afraid, my sister was a doctor in Tartus Hospital, many of her friends have been killed, I knew people there that have lost members of their family, we were mourning really.

The General Security forces played a huge role in protecting the Alawite neighborhoods. They gathered more forces and forbade any armed groups to enter our neighborhoods, I may be able to say that without their protection, Alawite Homs could have faced the same destiny the coast had been facing.

Why do you think they put so much effort into protecting your neighborhoods?

Actually they were protecting our neighborhoods since the liberation day, and they said that they are not here to take revenge from anyone and their responsibility is to protect all citizens. Of course there are some of them that don't follow the orders and violate people because of sects, religion or ethnic roots, but that's not the common thing among the general security forces.

Have you spoken with Alawite friends in the coast about their experiences in March? How have they reacted to the violence compared with the Alawite community in Homs?

In Homs we somehow have been there before, so I think we are mentally stronger than them, but of course even for Alawite Homs we would be terrified if we have faced what they had.

I spoke with some of them, thankfully they are fine now, but still they are hurt and sad, they find it really hard to return to the same places they saw their families murdered in, most of them want to leave the country now. They say ‘it's really hard to forget what happened here, we don't want revenge we just want to leave.’

Have you discussed what happened on the coast with your Sunni friends?

Yes of course we talked and so many of them were empathizing with people there and didn't want anyone to be hurt. A few of them were blaming people there [coastal Alawites] for not reporting about the intentions of the previous military men under the leadership of Mikdad Fatiha [pro-regime insurgents], and because they didn't report things it led to what happened. I don't agree with this opinion but I surely understand why would they think this way.

Life in Homs

How is life in your neighborhood today? Have services or the economic conditions improved? Does the neighborhood have a locally elected mayor or council?

It is way better now, the general security forces don't cover their faces anymore, like in my neighborhood some of the checkpoints don’t have masks and they seem more relaxed too. They are more kind with people here, the services have improved a little and traders started to open their shops more late as days start to be longer, so it makes the place more safe.

We already have a locally elected mayor in our neighborhoods, we call them Mokhtar, and they are actually doing their best to make people return to their normal lives and keep them calm and give people the true information after any gossip or rumors may spread. They are doing a great job.

Has there been any changes in the behavior of security forces in Homs during the past two months, since we last spoke? Do you find that there is a difference in behavior between the military men and the general security men?

I didn't interact with the military members that much, but i believe they are more like fighters than civil police men, maybe somehow more harsh and cold. Security men are more professional in solving problems peacefully and they try to keep all things under control, otherwise military members act more quickly and direct and do just what they are ordered to do, they make a scene every time they do something.

Some of the new members may commit violations, they haven't been trained long and good enough in my opinion, and some of them joined the security forces just to get revenge, or maybe because they love to be in power or in control over people, absolutely this is not acceptable, but their violations expose them and I hope the government will deal with them.

All the checkpoints I pass by are general security, they wear black and have the logo of the general security forces on their arms, I have not seen any military check points inside the city since a while.

Are there new members of the General Security that come from different parts of the country or from different religious backgrounds?

No, not yet, General Security members all come from the same sect, except for one member called George [a Christian]. He joined them maybe two weeks ago, and he is the only one so far, no Alawite or Shia'a or other minorities have joined the security force till now, but there are members from all Syrian cities, they all are Muslim Sunni.

I’ve seen reports of members of the security forces in Homs city using their new positions to intimidate or threaten Alawite residents. We talked in February about some of the bad officials that were appointed in the first weeks. Has this issue gotten worse since March, or have you seen any efforts by the officials to stop criminal security force behavior?

I didn't see the efforts directly, they didn't announce any case of punishment or something like that, but I've seen an improvement in their behavior and I believe it's because of some direct orders from the government to stop any bad behavior and treat people more kindly and in a respectful way.

What about the kidnappings and murders, like the family in al-Sabeel neighborhood and the four men kidnapped and executed yesterday? Do you feel like the security forces are doing enough to protect Alawites or that the situation is getting worse?

I think they should put more effort into protecting everyone, I mean General Security is not enough, there should be criminal security, police men and cars in the streets, and of course they must re-view all the cases that they freed from jail on liberation day. Whitening the jails was a huge movement to free all innocent prisoners, but there were criminals in jails as well and they should return there as soon as possible. There were thieves, murderers, and all kind of criminals and they are free in the streets now.

About the al-Sabeel family murder, it turned out to be a revenge case between two families, and this could happen in any neighborhood and any sect, that's why there should by more General Security and police men in the streets, and the numbers of the General Security members now is not that much, and they should allow all men that want to join them to join.

The New Government and Future for Alawites

What is your and your friends' opinions of the new interim government appointments? Are you happy that there are people from every sect?

Yes of course it's a good thing, but what is more important is that the chosen ministers are really very good ones, highly educated, very effective in society, most of them have brilliant background. This is what really matters.

And most of them are young which is a very hopeful thing. In the Assad regime days, all ministers were old and that was annoying somehow. But for example, the minister of my directorate is 32 years old, that's really impressive.

Have there been any changes in your department from this new government?

Not that much, but the new manager is very kind and respectful and he is trying his best to hear our complaints and solve most of them.

Is your new manager Sunni?

Yes, he is Sunni from Idleb, and the previous manager from Assad days was Sunni as well. It's normal to have more Sunni managers, they are more than 75% from the population. But our previous manager wasn't good, at all, he was chosen by the sect not by his effectiveness, because for the regime they thought as long as he is Sunni it's okay to silence the Sunni people.

What do you think the government can and should do now, in the next days and weeks, that might help the Alawite community feel like they are part of Syria's future and not at risk of being murdered any day?

I think they should allow and chair the Alawite men to join the police and security forces, I understand if they have their reasons to forbid them from joining the army in the right condition, but police and security are not risking.

And the Alawite should elect a group of active and educated and religious men to make a council or something that speak in their behalf and meet with the president Ahmad al-Shara and make some kind of deal to protect and save their rights and to reactivate their existence in society in an effective way.

When we spoke in February you seemed very optimistic, even with the crimes and violations happening in Homs. Do you still feel this way?

No I'm still optimistic and I believe as long as the government is trying to find a solution to every problem we face and speak up about it, the things will be better by time and all sections of this newborn government will evolve.

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]]><![CDATA[The Security Situation in Qadmus - Interview]]>https://www.syriarevisited.com/p/the-security-situation-in-qadmushttps://www.syriarevisited.com/p/the-security-situation-in-qadmusSat, 15 Mar 2025 19:07:00 GMTThe city of Qadmus in Syria’s Tartous governorate is largely Ismaili, surrounded by Alawite villages. Like Salamiyah, the Ismailis of Qadmus have built a close relationship with the new government. They have also used this privileged position to act as intermediaries with the local Alawite villages - both before and after the March 6 uprising. Yesterday I interviewed a civil society member in Qadmus. We discussed the security developments since December 8, the situation in the city during the recent violence, and the current security situation and the stark difference between the police and General Security and the pro-government military factions in the area.

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