Several people, including a security officer, were killed and dozens wounded during demonstrations in the Syrian cities of Latakia, Tartous and Jableh on Sunday, as hundreds of protesters in Tartous and Latakia demanded the release and reinstatement of detainees from the armed forces of ousted President Bashar al-Assad.
Analyst Ahmed al-Shami said a religious leader was attempting to exploit emotions and incite chaos through his statements, while stressing to state media that the right to protest exists as long as it does not destabilise the country.
The deadly protests were called for by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh living abroad who heads the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and Abroad, and an analyst said the unrest reflects cracks in existing control rather than a loss of government authority.
Gamal Mansour, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Toronto, said this was not a failure of the government but part of a state-building process that inevitably takes time. He added that the transition from a militia fighting a regime to a full-fledged force of order and stability is especially lengthy and difficult in any context.
Mansour also noted that the Alawite community feels besieged and excluded, while the government of President Ahmad al-Sharaa is unwilling to consider demands for federalism or even decentralisation. Although many demonstrators voiced support for Ghazal Ghazal, they emphasised that they do not support the former regime of President Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite.
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa
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