Sharaa's hopes of stitching Syria back together under the rule of his Islamist-led government are complicated by the country's mix of sectarian and ethnic groups.

Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawites community, maintained power over the Sunni-majority Syria for 24 years. ... His son Bashar al-Assad then followed his father’s footsteps, ...

Syria's Alawites are living in fear following the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to the Washington Post this week. During his rule, Assad recruited many Alawites as military ...

A Reuters investigation found 40 distinct sites of killings, looting and arson during three days of sectarian massacres ...

President Bashar al-Assad is an Alawite. To find out more about the Alawites and their control, we turned to Steven Heydemann, Middle East specialist at the United States Institute of Peace.

Reuters investigation traces March 2025 coastal massacres to militias and units tied to Syria’s new leadership, exposing a chain of command reaching Damascus.

The Muslim minority group was seen as a privileged minority under the rule of the Alawite Assad family, but since Bashar Assad ’s government fell ... group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew Assad ...

We visit the hometown of the ousted Syrian President, Bashir al-Assad. Qardaha lies in northwest Syria, considered the heartlands of the Alawite religious sect.

Nearby, Bashar Assad’s house was emptied by looters, who left the water taps running to flood it. At a villa belonging to three of his cousins, a father and his two young sons were removing ...

The Sunni-led Islamist rebels who toppled Syria's Bashar al-Assad met elders in the former president's Alawite hometown on Monday and received their support, in what residents said was an ...

Throughout the uprising in Syria, President Bashar Assad has been able to count on strong support in own sect, the Alawites. But recent reports suggest that a small but growing number of Alawites ...