TARTUS, Syria — The Syrian coast is not what it was before the outbreak of the Syrian revolution. The war has brought sporadic displacement from the provinces of Homs and Hama, as well as other regions, to the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia. The situation was hard for many of the displaced after they were subjected to restrictions by the security services and some regime supporters from the Syrian coast, the majority of whose residents are Alawites. After armed brigades opposing the Syrian regime gained control of some neighborhoods of Aleppo in 2012, tens of thousands of Aleppan residents also fled to the Syrian coast to escape the fierce battles and heavy shelling.
Along the coastal districts, hundreds of Aleppans are quite visible, staying in houses rented from Alawite landlords and distinguishable by their accents and clothes. Meanwhile, it's rare to see someone from elsewhere — the Homs countryside, for example — living in these districts.
Al-Monitor spoke with an aid activist from the city of Tartus who requested anonymity and said, "We were working to provide aid on a small scale and without a license from the authorities. Yet, ever since the huge waves of displaced came from Aleppo, official institutions have become involved in providing aid. The authorities have opened shelters and they oversee them. We now work via licensed associations. The authorities have dealt differently with the displaced from Aleppo [compared with those from other regions], facilitating their residency, their obtaining of aid and their entry into the labor market."
Most of those who came to the coastal regions from Aleppo are small-scale merchants and skilled craftsmen. They began to work with the coastal residents, and some opened their own businesses. The aid activist said that the authorities were not skeptical about their intentions, and did not subject them to tight security monitoring. Although they were largely Sunni, the local Alawite community did not treat them with caution and fear. Many of the Aleppans here are considered supporters of the regime. According to the common narrative, the war imposed this situation on them, and the militants that came from the Aleppo countryside stormed the city without the approval of the majority of its residents, who were also mostly Sunni.
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