DAMASCUS — Across many areas of Syria, joy over the fall of the regime is being clouded by fear, especially within the Alawite community, deposed leader Bashar al-Assad's own sect.

The Alawites, a minority sect within Shiite Islam, constitute approximately 10-15% of Syria’s population at around 2-3 million people. They predominantly reside in the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus and also inhabit parts of Homs and Damascus. Historically marginalized under Ottoman rule, the Alawites rose to prominence in modern Syria thanks to disproportionate representation in the military and government under the Assad regime. However, this association with Assad’s rule since 1971 has left them particularly vulnerable in the post-regime era.

Syria’s new ruling Islamist establishment is targeting former regime officials and soldiers. In the power vacuum, Alawite neighborhoods are engulfed in anxiety as unsettling accounts of assassinations and disappearances in those areas emerge.

Although the official policy of the HTS-led government has been to mend sectarian ties in the country, military operations to sweep up remnants of Assad’s regime have ignited fears and led to reprisals — often by forces or individuals impersonating authorities — in Alawite-majority districts, especially Zahraa and Akrameh in the city of Homs.