An engaged Alawite couple shot dead at close range by masked men on a motorcycle. A Christian schoolteacher – likely mistaken for an Alawite – fatally shot in the head in the same neighbourhood days later. Five Druze civilians murdered by a policeman in an unprovoked attack whilst they were tending their olive fields. Four Alawites killed and another severely injured when fired upon whilst entering a taxi outside the hospital where most of them worked.

The reports of sectarian violence coming out of Syria in this year alone highlight the challenges that lay before the country’s transitional government and its interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, if they are to make good on their promises of justice and inclusivity.

Both the Alawite and Druze communities in particular have witnessed a significant increase in tensions and clashes with Syria’s Sunni majority since the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, with this resulting, in some cases, in violence that has claimed thousands of lives.