SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:
Protests erupted across Syria overnight in areas dominated by the Alawite minority after videos spread of militants desecrating an Alawite shrine. Alawites are seen as having been loyal to the Assad regime, which was toppled earlier in December. And the protests, as NPR's Diaa Hadid reports from Damascus, touch at the heart of a bigger crisis.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Speaking Arabic).
DIAA HADID, BYLINE: The video shared on X by Syrian activists shows militants torching parts of a sacred Alawi shrine. The new government, led by the Muslim rebel group HTS, condemned the desecration. They blamed, quote, "hidden hands" that sought to divide Syrians.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)
UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting in Arabic).
HADID: No matter. Protests erupted in Alawite areas across Syria, and they erupted in an Alawite suburb of Damascus. We raced there but stopped at a crossroads leading to the area. HTS gunmen are telling people to go back.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: A woman holding a baby flees down the hill.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: She says Alawites began protesting and there was gunfire. She's going to her brother's tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: Beside them, a man stands, hesitating.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: He says, "they told me I can't go up. There's gunfire. My son is there. He's scared." He says, "I don't know whether to stay or go." We see tracer fire, like red lights shooting across the night sky, a warning perhaps to stay away.
A few feet away from us, there's dozens of men. They're demanding to see the interim Syrian ruler, Ahmed al-Sharaa. They are so deeply upset over the desecration of their holy shrine, and they want his word that they'll be protected in this new Syria.
KHALDOUN AL-ADRA: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: One protester, Khaldoun al-Adra (ph), walks up to the gunman. He's trying to explain the hurt Alawites are feeling, and he says holy shrines were desecrated. An argument starts.
(CROSSTALK)
HADID: Gunman Jawad Khawla (ph) says, when you insulted our prophets and burned our holy book, what was that for? The protester responds, brother, we are innocent of this. We were victims, too. The gunman replies.
JAWAD KHAWLA: (Speaking Arabic).
HADID: "They gassed us. They gassed our children." He points to his gun and he tells me, I haven't even shot a bullet. I have orders. But other gunmen are spoiling for a fight. Their colleagues hold them back. And even if discipline holds here in Damascus, it's clear some militants associated with Syria's new rulers blame Alawites wholesale for the horrors of the Assad regime, and they don't see this ancient minority as part of Syria's future. Diaa Hadid, NPR News, Damascus. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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