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Alawite enclave in Syria

Young Kurdish men line up to sign up to join Syrian government's General Security forces at a police station in Afrin, Syria, an area in the country's north from which Kurds were forcibly displaced years ago, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Albam)
August 23, 2025, 12:53 pm
Syria security forces’ push to recruit Kurds, religious minorities brings hope, skepticism
Initiative comes after UN-backed commission that investigated sectarian violence recommended authorities increase diversity in security forces to gain trust of communities
By OMAR ALBAM and ABBY SEWELL
Syrian security forces deploy in the outskirts of Latakia, Syria, March 7, 2025. (Omar Albam/AP)
August 14, 2025, 3:14 pm
UN: War crimes likely committed by both sides in Syrian violence against Alawites
Commission of inquiry finds ‘inhumane acts’ were carried out in ‘systematic pattern’ in March, but no evidence of government policy or plan to carry out such attacks
By Agencies
Druze gunmen stand next to their sect's religious flag at a checkpoint at one of the Jaramana suburb entrances, after clashes in the area between members of the minority Druze sect and pro-government fighters, in the southern suburb of Jaramana, Damascus, Syria, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
April 30, 2025, 5:26 pm
Israel carries out ‘warning strike’ in Syria in defense of Druze minority
Syria denies Jerusalem’s claim that strike foiled planned attack on civilians; IDF chief orders further strikes if violence against minority persists; Israeli Druze urge intervention
By Lazar Berman, Nava Freiberg and Emanuel Fabian
A member of the Syrian forces stands on a vehicle during deadly violence in which some 1,500 members of Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect were killed, in Latakia, Syria, March 7, 2025. (Karam al-Masri/Reuters)
March 24, 2025, 4:04 pm
Investigating their own killings: Alawites claim the new regime was behind massacre
Messages from survivors of the sectarian violence in which over 1,500 civilians were killed describe methodical carnage, decry the duplicity of Syria’s new leadership
By Nurit Yohanan
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa signs the country's constitutional declaration, which will be enforced throughout a five-year transitional period, at the presidential palace in Damascus on March 13, 2025. (Bakr ALKASEM / AFP)
March 14, 2025, 12:11 am
Syria’s interim president signs constitution enshrining Islamist rule for 5 years
Amid major wave of sectarian violence, which has posed first major challenge of post-Assad Syria, new regime issues constitution which it says will grant equality for all citizens
By GHAITH ALSAYED and Kareem Chehayeb
Syrian attend the funeral of a relative, killed in the days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of the former government, in the town of Jableh in the coastal province of Latakia on March 10, 2025. (Photo by Abdulwajed HAJ ESTEIFI / AFP)
March 10, 2025, 8:22 pm
Sa’ar urges global leaders to denounce ‘pure evil’ of Sharaa’s Syria after killings
Foreign minister says Israel’s warnings over new Islamist rulers were accurate after over 1,000 killed in Alawite enclave; Sharaa dismisses Israel’s accusations as ‘nonsense’
By Nava Freiberg, Agencies and ToI Staff
This handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on March 8, 2025, shows Syrian forces manning a checkpoint in the coastal city of Latakia. (SANA/AFP)
March 8, 2025, 3:57 pm
745 civilians killed in clashes between Syrian regime and pro-Assad forces, says watchdog
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights describes killings of Alawites as ‘executions’ accompanied by looting; women and children among victims
By AFP and ToI Staff
Illustrative: People visit the Arab village of Ghajar, located between Lebanon and Israel in northern Israel, October 14, 2022. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)
February 2, 2025, 9:20 pm
As Alawite village on Israel-Lebanon border reopens, locals fear for relatives in Syria
After enduring decades of isolation amid border disputes, residents of Ghajar are focused on their Syrian kin, who face retribution for belonging to sect of deposed leader Assad
By Diana Bletter
A Syrian opposition fighter tears up a painting depicting Syrian President Bashar Assad and his late father Hafez Assad at the Aleppo international airpot in Aleppo, Syria, December 2, 2024. .(AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
December 9, 2024, 1:08 pm
With Assad’s fall, the possible splintering of Syria buoys hopes for a new Middle East
Anan Wahabi, a former IDF intel officer from the Druze community, says Syria’s groups could rebuild the country as semi-autonomous cantons, ensuring stability and perhaps cooperation with Israel
By Gianluca Pacchiani
An SA-5 interceptor missile on display at the Ukrainian Air Force Museum. (George Chernilevsky/Wikimedia/CC BY-SA 3.0)
April 22, 2021, 11:22 am
IDF probing why air defenses didn’t intercept Syrian anti-aircraft missile
Incoming projectile exploded in mid-air overnight, sending debris crashing down in southern Israel; reverberations of an explosion were felt in central Israel, Jerusalem
By Judah Ari Gross
Illustrative: Hezbollah operatives stand in formation at a rally to mark Jerusalem Day, or Al-Quds Day, in a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on May 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
May 21, 2020, 6:16 pm
20 years after Lebanon pullout, IDF faces a stronger Hezbollah – in Syria too
Military working to prevent Iran-backed terror group from acquiring precision-guided missiles, setting up new front along the Golan border
By Judah Ari Gross
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley testifying at the House State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs subcommittee, June 27, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
June 27, 2017, 9:34 pm
UN envoy says US warning to Syria also aimed at Russia and Iran
Haley says political solution possible in war-torn country, but not if ‘barbaric’ Assad remains in power
By Richard Lardner
In this photo taken on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, Syrian solders guard near a tent where local leaders and elders signed a declaration pledging to abide by a truce Maarzaf, about 15 kilometers west of Hama, Syria. Associated Press spent five days traveling through the port of Latakia and the surrounding areas in Syria during the cease-fire. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
March 7, 2016, 5:00 am
From calm to chaos: A reporter’s escorted visit to Syria
Suddenly a puff of gray smoke rose from the mountain slope below. At first, I didn’t understand what had happened, but a Russian officer yelled: ‘All down! We are under fire!’
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with US Secretary of State John Kerry during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015. (Sergei Karpukhin/Pool Photo via AP)
December 17, 2015, 12:54 am
Russia’s pro-Assad airstrikes restore Syria stalemate
Propped up by Moscow’s intervention, government forces retake strategic sites and spark a reexamination in Washington
By Zeina Karam
In this Sunday, March 4, 2012 file photo, Syrians hold posters of Syrian President Bashar Assad, far left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left, during a pro-Syrian government protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria. (AP/Muzaffar Salman, File)
October 13, 2015, 2:56 pm
Insurgents shell Russian embassy in Syria
Damascus attack takes place amid pro-Moscow rally outside compound; no immediate reports of casualties
By Albert Aji and Bassam Mroue
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