Clashes between Islamists who took over Syria and supporters of ousted president Bashar Assad’s government killed six Islamic fighters on Wednesday and wounded others, according to a British-based war monitor.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighters were killed while trying to arrest a former official in Mr Assad’s government, accused of issuing execution orders and arbitrary rulings against thousands of prisoners.
The fighters were from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, which led the stunning offensive that toppled Mr Assad earlier this month.
Syria’s transition has been surprisingly smooth but it has only been a few weeks since Mr Assad fled the country and his administration and forces melted away.
Since Mr Assad’s fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and monitors, the vast majority of them from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that Assad belongs to.
In the capital, Damascus, Alawite protesters scuffled with Sunni counter-protesters and gunshots were heard. The Associated Press could not confirm details of the shooting.
Alawite protests also took place along the coast of Syria, in the city of Homs and the Hama countryside. Some called for the release of soldiers from the former Syrian army now imprisoned by the HTS.
At least one protester was killed and five were wounded in Homs by HTS forces suppressing the demonstration, said the Syrian Observatory. In response to the protests, HTS imposed a curfew from 6pm until 8am.
The Alawite protests were apparently in part sparked by an online video showing the burning of an Alawite shrine. The interim authorities insisted the video was old and not a recent incident.
Sectarian violence has erupted in bursts since Mr Assad’s ouster but nothing close to the level feared after nearly 14 years of civil war that killed an estimated half-million people. The war fractured Syria, creating millions of refugees and displacing tens of thousands throughout the country.
