Syrian bloodshed heaps pressure on Sharaa and exposes deep fractures

Deadly violence in Syria's Alawite heartland is the worst since rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad in December.

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The post-Assad era started with high hopes and relative calm but, as Syria remains deeply fractured, many feared that an explosion of tensions was almost inevitable.

With the regime gone, putting an end of more than five decades of Assad family rule, rebels arrived in Damascus from Idlib, a region in Syria's north-west that for years was the only opposition-controlled province in the country.

The rebels were catapulted into positions once controlled by hand-picked Assad supporters and, led by al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), were in charge of a country devastated by 13 years of civil war.

The dismantling of the security apparatus behind the oppressive machine of the Assads, including the country's army and the ruling Baath party, meant the sacking of hundreds of thousands of people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17q9dv5225o

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