Ever since Bashar al-Assad and his regime were overthrown in December, there has been tension in the country's coastal areas, where the Alawite minority is mainly found. The dictator himself belonged to the minority, as did many of his security forces.
It went surprisingly well at first, many thought it would be a massacre right away. But it has been relatively calm, but very tense, and many have lost their jobs, says Aron Lund, Middle East analyst at the Total Defense Research Institute.
Since al-Assad was overthrown, the new security forces, consisting of former rebel groups, have taken themselves out to the villages and, among other things, arrested former generals. Violence has broken out as well – but not on the scale that is happening now, according to Lund.
"Went berserk"
Under the surface, religious tensions have been simmering, combined with "the bitter and bloody legacy" of the war, while there are weapons everywhere.
Many have known that this is a powder keg that can explode at any time. And now it has exploded.
It was on Thursday that the whole thing escalated, when security forces in the coastal city of Jableh were killed in an ambush by what is claimed to be supporters of al-Assad.
It was an incredible reaction. The security forces went berserk. But above all, other former rebel groups, which formally belong to the security forces, but in practice are only independent ex-rebel groups, came.
Not the government's order
Over 1,000 people have been killed and the majority are civilians, according to the British-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory (SOHR). The figures should not be seen as reliable since no one has been able to get there and count, believes Aron Lund.
It will certainly become clear afterwards. But it is obvious that very serious abuses have been committed against very many civilians, with fighting on top of that.
According to Lund, the violence against civilians is likely not something that happened on order from the government. In practice, there is no functioning, unified military.
The violence that has broken out should instead be seen in the light of the many years of bloody civil war, says Lund. The weak transitional government wants to try to establish control and get international recognition – at the same time, there are supporters who would rather see revenge for all the years of war.
In that situation, I think this is very important. Especially Western countries, the USA and Europe, have sanctions that the new government must get rid of in order to survive. But they have been clear that one of the conditions is that they treat minorities well.
