Gunfire erupts in a crowded street as masked men in the back of a military truck unleash a barrage of bullets. In another video circulating on Syrian social media, apartment buildings — reportedly home to Alawite families — are engulfed in flames within seconds, their windows flashing as the fire takes hold.

Elsewhere, a man wearing military fatigues and riding a motorcycle pulls up to a house and orders the resident to face the camera before executing him. Another harrowing clip of film captures a lifeless body sprawled on open ground as a voice sneers, “These are the Alawite pigs,” before firing again. 

The wave of brutal attacks comes as Syria faces its deadliest unrest since the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. The violence erupted on Thursday after reports surfaced that loyalists to Mr. Assad carried out a series of coordinated attacks, ambushing and killing at least 200 members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that led his ousting. 

That night, armed fighters poured into the Alawite strongholds Latakia and Tartous. What began as military retaliation quickly escalated into sectarian bloodshed as thousands more pro-government fighters descended on the coast. Eyewitnesses and video evidence depict field executions and calls to “purify” Syria, turning a crackdown on regime remnants into a wave of communal killings. 

“It’s terrifying; it feels like a genocide,” one young mother and artist from Latakia and the Alawite community tells The New York Sun. “I’m afraid. I’m afraid for my family.”

The source, who did not want to be named, said that while there had been “individual” retaliatory attacks, this was the first large-scale attack since the leadership change and a first for the community shielded from the nation’s long-running war. 

The death toll rose to more than 1,000 over the weekend, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Alawites — the Shia offshoot minority to which Mr. Assad belongs — bore the brunt, with many executed as security forces and militias looted homes and properties. The violence, Reuters reports, claimed 745 civilian lives, along with 125 Syrian security personnel and 148 pro-Assad fighters. No official figures have been disclosed. 

Origins of Violence

For over 50 years, Syria was ruled by the Assad family, an Alawite minority that dominated the country’s security forces and bureaucracy despite comprising around 10 percent of the population. Mr. Assad, who took power after his father’s three-decade rule, fled last year as the Sunni Islamist militants entered the capital, seeking to reshape Syria’s political and sectarian order.

The takeover was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a group with al-Qaeda origins, under the leadership of Ahmad al-Sharaa. The new government, however, vowed to shed its hardline past and promised political representation for Syria’s diverse communities. 

Mr. Assad, now in exile in Moscow, leaves behind a legacy of war crimes, including chemical attacks, mass executions, and brutal detentions. His downfall followed years of civil war, which erupted in 2011 and saw Syria ravaged by sectarian violence, human rights abuses, and battles against the Islamic State. 

More to the Story

Some activists underscore that the situation is more complicated than it currently is portrayed across social media. A Christian Syrian reformist and defected Assad government adviser Ayman Abdel Nour pointed out that there are multiple players, including Iran, pulling strings behind the scenes. 

He explained that the “losing side” formed a group populated by “ex-loyalists of Assad and members of the Assad army,” motivated by Assad family members in exile using social media accounts to make many believe that the family is “coming back and will eventually rule Syria again.”

The offensive against the small number of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham forces in the coastal area, Mr. Nour claimed, was “supposed to be much bigger.”

“There were plans for people from the Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iraqi militias, to attack from Turkey and Iraqi borders against Syria. However, it didn’t happen because of a warning from the Turkish army, which discovered the plot and intervened, saying they would defend the Damascus government,” he noted. “So, instead, the attackers targeted HTS and killed many of them by surprise.”

Mr. Nour stressed that the biggest governance error came next. 

“HTS couldn’t retaliate because they couldn’t move their large army from Idlib or Damascus without risking evacuation. So, they called for a general mobilization and went to mosques across all cities, urging men above 18 to take any weapon and go defend the Sunni Muslims in the coastal area,” he said. 

“This caused massive chaos, and they started killing even Sunnis and Christians indiscriminately. People who opposed the Assad regime were killed; they were caught in the chaos.”

After six hours of intense fighting, the army “recognized the situation was unmanageable and evacuated Damascus. They deployed forces to restore order, removing jihadists and those who had responded to the mosque calls.”

“This was a significant mistake, as many innocent civilians and non-government fighters lost their lives,” Mr. Nour said. 

This included at least eight Christians. 

“While they were not targeted specifically for being Christian, they were killed by mistake,” Mr. Nour explained. “Some were riding in cars that were stopped, others were walking in the streets or visiting their Muslim Sunni friends. They were not targeted because of their faith.”

Damascus Pointing the Finger  

Syria’s interim president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has attributed the recent violence to “remnants of Assad’s forces,” vowing to hold those responsible for civilian deaths accountable. 

“They must surrender to the law immediately,” he said at a mosque in Damascus Sunday, calling for national unity.

Mr. Sharaa downplayed the unrest as an “expected challenge” and urged Syrians to preserve peace. His administration has deployed reinforcements to the northwest, and acknowledged violations during the crackdown, blaming them on disorganized armed groups exploiting the chaos.

Security forces claim to have regained control of much of  the coastal areas after the attacks. 

Uncertain Future

Despite efforts to distance the new administration from its jihadist past, the harsh and indiscriminatory response and ongoing clashes raise serious doubts about its ability to forge stability in the country. 

“The escalation serves as a grim reminder that the situation in the country remains fragile, and violence still exists,” the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Syria Country Office Director, Federico Jachetti, tells the Sun in a statement. 

“All of Syria’s communities must be protected. Any targeting of civilians and civilian facilities such as hospitals violates International Humanitarian Law and must be prevented. There must be full accountability for any such violence.”

Others worry about small-scale attacks from the Alawites, which could spark a harsh crackdown and more dramatic waves of violence. 

“This was likely ‘one last push’ from what is left of ‘the axis of resistance’ in the region,” conflict analyst and risk management expert Ronnie Hamada, who fled his hometown of Aleppo for Europe during the war, tells the Sun. “On the other hand, what we are seeing is an extremely shaky attempt for dialogue and underlying grievances to escalate violence rather than de-escalate.”

Secretary of State Rubio said in a statement on Sunday that, “The United States condemns the radical Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadis, that murdered people in western Syria in recent days.”

“The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities, and offers its condolences to the victims and their families,” he continued. “Syria’s interim authorities must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable.”

Security continues to be a pressing challenge for Syria’s new administration, as the country’s future remains volatile and uncertain. 

Amid the chaos, hundreds of Syrians took to the streets in Damascus, gathering in Marjeh Square — also known as Martyrs’ Square — to protest the ongoing violence, demanding an end to the bloodshed.

“Syrian families across the country are yearning for a respite after long years of uncertainty and fear,” Mr. Jachetti added. “This violence risks reversing any stability that families across the country might have begun to feel.”