Why Syria Is More Divided Than Ever After Assad’s Fall

Trigger Warning: This video contains sensitive content that some viewers may find disturbing.

On Dec. 8, 2024, Syria made history when it finally overthrew its dictator Bashar al-Assad, bringing his family’s brutal half-century reign to an end. After more than a decade of intense instability and a raging civil war that killed over half a million people, Syrians poured into the streets in celebration and hope for a brighter future.

Former Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa was installed as the new leader of Syria, vowing to unify the nation and finally restore peace. But a year into his rule, renewed violence, particularly between the government and the country’s various minority groups, has only deepened divisions, threatening a fragile Syrian state.

For this deep dive explainer video that shows the troubling state of the country’s Druze and Alawite minority groups, Zeteo’s Bibars Nakhesh scoured through over a hundred social media videos, dozens of news articles, data from human rights organizations, and interviewed a former detainee of Assad who was tortured under the former leader’s government. Much of what is in this video you will not have seen on mainstream coverage of Syria.

*Since the time Zeteo produced this report, Syria has seen a renewed wave of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters in Syria, and al-Sharaa’s government struck yet another deal with a former Assad associate, which for many Syrians, challenges the transitional justice process.