The post-Assad era started with high hopes and relative calm but, as Syria remains deeply fractured, many feared that an explosion of tensions was almost inevitable.

With the regime gone, putting an end of more than five decades of Assad family rule, rebels arrived in Damascus from Idlib, a region in Syria’s north-west that for years was the only opposition-controlled province in the country.

The rebels were catapulted into positions once controlled by hand-picked Assad supporters and, led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), were in charge of a country devastated by 13 years of civil war.

The dismantling of the security apparatus behind the oppressive machine of the Assads, including the country’s army and the ruling Baath party, meant the sacking of hundreds of thousands of people.

Among them were large numbers of the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shia Islam to which the Assad family belong. Under the Assads, they held prominent positions.

Now, under Sunni Muslim-led authorities, they have lost their power and privilege, and say they have been under attack and discrimination, despite Sharaa’s pledges to respect different religious sects.

In January, just over a month after Assad’s fall, I met a rebel around 30 years old who had recently been appointed as a high-profile security official.

In the nearly empty interior ministry headquarters in Damascus, he welcomed me to a room where any sign of the old regime had been removed.

Tall and shy, the official made notes on his iPad while acknowledging that the new rulers faced enormous challenges, including resistance by Assad loyalists. He requested anonymity to be able to discuss sensitive issues.

“There are Assad-affiliated people who haven’t engaged with the reconciliation process,” he said, citing the new authorities’ call for former members of the security forces to surrender their weapons and ties to the old government.

“Our eyes are on everyone, but we don’t want to give the impression that we’re after them. That’s why there haven’t been massive raids.”

He also mentioned the threat from Sharaa’s more radical supporters, who were frustrated with the pragmatic and conciliatory tone of a man who led al-Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate.

Syria’s new leader has tried to convince everyone, especially in the West, that he is a reformed man and that his jihadist ideologies remain in the past.

“We recognise that this is a problem,” the official said, adding: “we’re going to [have to] deal with it.”

For weeks, violence against government forces was on the rise, particularly in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous – the Alawite heartland and a stronghold for Assad supporters. An insurgency seemed to be growing but the clashes were relatively contained. Until Thursday.

As forces linked to the government carried out an operation in the countryside of Latakia, targeting a former Assad official, they were ambushed by gunmen in Jableh. A regional official described it as a well-planned attack carried out by “remnants of the Assad militias”, with reports that about 4,000 men were involved.

To curb the rebellion, the authorities sent reinforcements, who were also joined by militias who were not necessarily responding to the orders from Damascus. The operation turned into revenge killings of a sectarian nature: after decades of brutality under the Assads in the mainly Sunni country, many associate Alawites with the old regime.

A widely shared video showed the bodies of at least two dozen men in civilian clothing, piled in the yard of a house, in the Alawite town of Mukhtareyah. Elsewhere, accounts emerged of fighters searching for Alawite members and killing entire families on the spot.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, more than 1,300 people have been killed in Latakia, Tartous, Hama and Homs provinces, a number that includes 973 civilians and hundreds of members of the Syrian security forces and Assad loyalists. The information could not be independently verified.

Sharaa’s office announced the creation of an independent committee to investigate the clashes and killings by both sides, saying that he would hold to account anyone who overstepped their authority. “No-one will be above the law,” he said in a video speech.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, said former Assad regime members were likely to form the most effective insurgent cells against Syria’s new rulers with the ability to co-ordinate attacks.

“[They] already have pre-existing networks that they can leverage to rapidly organise insurgent cells. These networks are military, intelligence, and political networks and criminal syndicates who were regime supporters and lost significant economic and political influence in the aftermath of Assad’s fall,” a report said.

The bloodshed will add to the pressure on Sharaa, whose forces do not control the whole of Syria, and where myriad factions – supported by different countries – exercise power over different regions.

Turkish-backed groups are clashing with Kurdish forces that control large areas in north-east, while Israeli troops are occupying parts of the country’s south-west. The authorities have also faced resistance from Druze forces in the south, although a deal was reached last week.

However, Sharaa’s challenges go beyond the task of trying to keep the country safe. As Western suspicions over his intentions continue, the authorities are struggling to get crippling sanctions imposed on Syria under the former regime lifted, a vital move to revive the economy of a country where nine in every 10 people are in poverty. The recent violence will make those efforts even harder.

The agreement, which includes a complete cessation of hostilities, says the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will hand over control of the region’s border posts, airport, and vital oil and gas fields.

It also recognises the Kurdish minority as “an integral part of the Syrian state” and guarantees “the rights of all Syrians to representation and participation in the political process”.

SDF commander Mazloum Abdi called the deal a “real opportunity to build a new Syria”.

“We are committed to building a better future that guarantees the rights of all Syrians and fulfils their aspirations for peace and dignity,” he wrote on X after signing the deal in Damascus on Monday alongside interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

The deal represents a major step towards Sharaa’s goal to unify the fractured country after his Sunni Islamist group led the rebel offensive that overthrew president Bashar al-Assad in December and ended 13 years of devastating civil war.

It could also de-escalate the SDF’s conflict with neighbouring Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian former rebel factions allied to the government, which are trying to push the alliance out of areas near the border.

There were celebrations welcoming the announcement of the deal on the streets of several cities on Monday night, with many people expressing relief at a time when Syria is facing several other threats to its stability.

The recent mass killings of Alawite civilians in the western coastal region during clashes between security forces and Assad loyalists have sparked calls for international protection for Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities and amplified voices promoting division.

There is also concern about the south, where some Druze militias in Suweida province have been reluctant to lay down their arms. However, Suweida residents said representatives met Sharaa in Damascus on Monday and a deal like the SDF’s was expected soon.

Israel has also threatened to intervene to protect the Druze from the government, which it considers a threat. It has also carried out an air campaign to destroy much of Syria’s military capabilities and seized a demilitarised buffer zone next to the occupied Golan Heights.

The SDF, which has tens of thousands of well-armed and well-trained fighters, was not aligned with either Assad’s regime or the opposition during the civil war.

It currently controls more than 46,000 sq km (18,000 sq miles) of territory in the north-east, where it defeated the Islamic State (IS) group in 2019 with the help of a US-led coalition.

The SDF plays a major role in the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), which governs the region also known to Kurds as Rojava.

About 10,000 IS fighters are being detained in SDF-run prisons spread across the region and about 45,000 other people linked to IS, mostly women and children, are held in several camps.

Since the fall of Assad, the SDF has warned that attacks from Turkish-backed factions are forcing it to divert fighters away from guarding the prisons and paving the way for an IS resurgence.

The Turkish government views the biggest militia in the SDF, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), as a terrorist organisation. It says it the YPG is an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) group that waged an insurgency in Turkey for decades but whose imprisoned leader recently declared a ceasefire.

There was no immediate comment from Turkey in response to Monday’s agreement. However, Turkish officials have previously called for all Kurdish-led groups in north-eastern Syria to dissolve and integrate with the new government.

Several Arab countries welcomed the deal, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar both describing it as an important step towards maintaining “civil peace”.

Between 25 and 35 million Kurds inhabit a mountainous region straddling the borders of Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Armenia. They make up the fourth-largest ethnic group in the Middle East, but they have never obtained a permanent nation state.

Syria’s Kurds, which make up about make up about 10% of the population, were suppressed and denied basic rights during the Assad family’s rule.

Ahmed al-Sharaa also stressed the need for armed groups to integrate into the military and for the state to have a monopoly on weapons, saying Syria’s “strength lies in its unity”.

The 600 delegates have been asked to provide recommendations on transitional justice, the economy, the new constitution and other topics to guide a new transitional government.

But there has been criticism that the process has been rushed, and the Kurdish-led militia alliance and autonomous administration which control north-eastern Syria were not invited.

The Assad family ruled Syria for more than 50 years with an iron fist, with Bashar becoming president in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez.

In 2011, Bashar brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a devastating civil war in which more than 600,000 people were killed and 12 million others forced to flee their homes.

On 8 December, he fled to Russia after a rebel alliance led by Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) swept down from north-western Syria and entered Damascus in the space of only 12 days.

Seven weeks later, Sharaa was named president for the “transitional period” by his fellow rebel commanders. They also announced the cancellation of the 2012 constitution, the dissolution of the parliament, army and security agencies, and the integration of all rebel groups into the new state institutions replacing them.

Sharaa promised to hold a national dialogue conference to discuss Syria’s future, which he said would be followed by a “constitutional declaration” to serve during the transition.

“Syria liberated itself on its own, and it suits it to build itself on its own,” Sharaa said in a speech at the national dialogue conference in Damascus on Tuesday.

“What we are living today is an exceptional, historic and rare opportunity. We must take advantage of every moment of it to serve the interests of our people and our country.”

The organising committee said six working groups would be formed to discuss a transitional justice system, the new constitution, reforming and building state institutions, personal freedoms, the role of civil society, and the country’s future economic model.

The groups would agree non-binding recommendations, which would be presented to the new transitional government set to take power on Saturday and help shape the constitutional declaration, according to the committee.

Sharaa said a transitional justice body would soon be formed to “restore people’s rights” and start holding to account those who committed crimes against Syrians during the civil war.

He also reiterated that non-state armed groups had to disarm and hand over their territory.

“The unity of arms and their monopoly by the state is not a luxury but a duty and an obligation,” he said. “Syria is indivisible; it is a complete whole, and its strength lies in its unity.”

The interim government’s forces control Syria’s biggest cities, but large parts of the country are still held by various armed groups.

They include the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a militia alliance supported by the US, which controls most of the north-east and serves as the armed forces of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).

The SDF has so far refused to integrate its forces into the new Syrian army, although negotiations have been taking place in recent weeks.

Organisers of the conference said the SDF and AANES had not been invited because of that refusal, and that Kurds would be represented in Damascus even if they were not.

However, SDF spokesman Farhad Shami told AFP news agency that “the exclusion of the SDF and large sections of Syrian society confirm that the conference serves to please the outside world and not to seek a better future”.

Thirty-five parties in the AANES also criticised what they claimed was the “token representation” of Kurds and other minorities, saying such events were “meaningless, worthless, and will not contribute to finding real solutions to the country’s ongoing crisis”.

Moutasem Sioufi of The Day After, an independent civil society group that is participating in the conference, told the BBC that it was important that all groups were involved.

“We need to have dialogue with all the Syrian groups, with all Syrian powers, especially those who have great influence on the ground. Without that Syria would face a very hard time maintaining itself together,” he said.

The outcomes of the conference will be closely watched by the international community, which has called for an inclusive political process that represents the country’s many ethnic and religious communities.

During the civil war, the US, the UK, and the European Union imposed a wide range of sanctions on Syria targeting Assad’s government and its allies in response to atrocities committed during the civil war.

They have lifted some of the sanctions that crippled the Syrian economy since Assad’s fall, but made further steps dependent on Syria’s new leaders keeping promises to respect minority rights and move towards democracy.

On Monday, the EU announced that it was suspending sanctions on its energy, transport and banking sectors to facilitate humanitarian assistance and reconstruction.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani welcomed that decision, but he criticised the international sanctions still in place in a speech to the national dialogue conference.

“These sanctions are illegitimate and are not based on any legal or moral foundations,” he said. “They are being used as a means of pressure on the will of the Syrian people.”

HTS, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, is subject to separate sanctions because it continues to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US, EU and UK.

Sharaa has been named president for a “transitional period”, seven weeks after he led the rebel offensive that overthrew Assad.

He committed to issuing a “constitutional declaration” to serve as a “legal reference” during the country’s transition, following the suspension of the old constitution.

On Wednesday, rebel military commander Hassan Abdul Ghani announced the cancellation of Syria’s 2012 constitution and the dissolution of the former regime’s parliament, army and security agencies, according to the Sana news agency.

Sharaa began the pre-recorded speech on Thursday by saying that he would be addressing his words to all Syrian men and women, including refugees, the families of “martyrs” and missing people, and activists who have dedicated their lives to the struggle for a free Syria.

He credited his coming to power to every Syrian who took part in the uprising and tried to make a change, and vowed to “pursue the criminals who shed Syrian blood and committed massacres and crimes”.

He also promised to hold a “national dialogue conference” and vowed to preserve “civil peace” and Syria’s territorial unity.

It comes after announcements were made on Wednesday during an event in Damascus attended by the commanders of factions who fought alongside the rebel alliance led by Sharaa’s Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). It was entitled the “Conference for Announcing the Victory of the Syrian Revolution”.

All rebel groups which opposed Assad in the 13-year civil war would be dissolved and integrated into state institutions, Sharaa said.

As president, Sharaa would form an interim legislative council to help govern until a new constitution was approved, Ghani said.

In late December, Sharaa told Al Arabiya TV in an interview that it would take up to four years to hold new elections.

He said an up-to-date census would be required first which “would take time” and that writing up a new constitution would also take up to three years to complete.

Sharaa also reiterated in the interview that he planned a “national dialogue conference”, which he said would “bring together all components” of Syrian society.

In 2011, Assad brutally crushed a peaceful pro-democracy uprising, sparking a civil war in which more than half a million people were killed and 12 million others forced to flee their homes.

HTS – a former al-Qaeda affiliate that is still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, the US, the EU and the UK – previously dominated the last rebel stronghold in north-western Syria.

On 8 December, as the rebels entered Damascus after routing the army and sweeping down from the north in the space of only 12 days, Assad resigned the presidency and fled to Russia.

An interim government led by Mohammed al-Bashir, the former head of the rebel administration in the north-west, has been tasked with running the country until MarchAlso on Wednesday, the Syrian government called on Russia to address “past mistakes” by paying war reparations, during the first visit by a top Kremlin delegation since the fall of Assad, its staunch ally.

Sharaa and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov discussed “rebuilding trust with the Syrian people through concrete measures such as compensation, reconstruction and recovery”, Sana reported.

The Russian foreign ministry said its delegation expressed “unwavering support” for Syria’s unity and readiness to assist its recovery from the civil war.

The Russian military carried out tens of thousands of air strikes on rebel-held areas after intervening in the conflict in support of Assad in 2015. A UK-based monitoring group says more than 21,000 people, including 8,700 civilians, were killed by those strikes and other Russian operations.

Since the fall of the Assad regime, Russia has been withdrawing troops and weapons from its two bases on Syria’s Mediterranean coast – Hmeimim airbase near Latakia and the naval base in Tartous.

Recent satellite photos analysed by BBC Verify showed that two Russian warships were docked at Tartous, which experts said suggested an evacuation of the facility had begun.

However, Russia is believed to be seeking to retain both bases, which give it a strategically important foothold in the eastern Mediterranean.

Following the Russian delegation’s visit to Damascus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow: “That was an important trip, and the contacts were important, too, because it is necessary to establish and maintain a constant dialogue with Syria.”

When asked about reports that the Syrian government had requested Assad’s extradition and war reparations in return, he replied: “I leave this without any comments. We will continue further dialogue with the Syrian authorities.”

In the interview with Al Arabiya, Sharaa noted the “deep strategic interests between Russia and Syria” and said he did not want Russia to leave “in a way that undermines its relationship with our country”.

“All of Syria’s arms are of Russian origin, and many power plants are managed by Russian experts,” he added.

Al-Sharaa was also authorised to form a temporary legislative council for the transitional phase which will carry out its task until a new constitution is adopted, SANA reported on Wednesday, citing military official Hassan Abdel Ghani.

Al-Sharaa  is the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former opposition armed group that led the lightning offensive that toppled President Bashar al-Assad last month.

Since Assad’s removal, HTS has become the de facto ruling party and has set up an interim government largely composed of officials from the local government it previously ran in rebel-held Idlib province.

Abdel Ghani also announced the dissolution of the armed factions in the country, which he said would be absorbed into state institutions.

“All military factions are dissolved… and integrated into state institutions,” state news agency SANA quoted Abdel Ghani as saying, and also announcing “the dissolution of the defunct regime’s army” and security agencies, as well as the Baath party, which ruled Syria for decades.

The announcements emerged during a Damascus meeting of armed factions that fought alongside HTS in the offensive.

The gathering was also attended by ministers from the HTS-installed interim government appointed in December.

Al-Sharaa, whose group was once an al-Qaeda affiliate, has pledged to embark on a political transition including a national conference, an inclusive government, and eventual elections, which he has said could take up to four years to hold.

He has also called for the creation of a new unified national army and security forces, but questions loom over how the interim administration can bring together a patchwork of former rebel groups, each with their own leaders and ideology.

Tajani met Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Friday, saying that sanctions imposed after al-Assad’s crackdown on antigovernment protests that triggered the country’s 13-year civil war “absolutely must not hit the Syrian population”.

“They, were imposed because there was a different regime. It’s important to open discussions on the changed situation,” he said, refering to last month’s opposition takeover of the country, led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham armed group, which brought al-Assad’s rule to an abrupt end.

Tajani said Italy wanted to help Syria recover from civil war and rebuild its broken economy, serving as a bridge between Damascus and the EU.

“The Mediterranean can no longer just be a sea of death, a cemetery of migrants but a sea of commerce a sea of development,” he said.

Tajani arrived in Damascus after hosting talks in Rome with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and officials from the United Kingdom, France and Germany on Thursday.

He said that the meeting of the so-called Quintet on Syria was key to beginning the discussion about a change to the EU sanctions.

Kallas said earlier on Friday that the 27-nation bloc could begin lifting sanctions if Syria’s new rulers took steps to form an inclusive government that protects minorities.

“The EU could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress,” Kallas wrote on X.

In Damascus, Tajani also met Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani, who announced that he would soon make his first official tour of Europe.

Al-Shaibani has already visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan since the start of the month.

Al-Shaibani said he welcomed Tajani’s focus on sanctions.

“We share his opinion that the reasons for imposing them no longer exist, and could be an obstacle to encouraging the return of refugees from outside Syria”, he said.

More than half a million people were killed in Syria’s war, which also ravaged the economy and forced millions of people to flee their homes, including to Europe.

In the first trip by a Lebanese prime minister to neighbouring Syria in 15 years, Mikati addressed a joint news conference with Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in the capital Damascus on Saturday.

Al-Sharaa said they had discussed issues including smuggling between the two countries, border challenges, and Syrian deposits in Lebanese banks.He said he expected “long-term strategic relations” with neighbouring Lebanon after the crisis-hit country elected a much-needed president.

“We and Lebanon have great shared interests,” al-Sharaa added.

Both sides agreed to establish committees to address these matters and provide support.

Lebanon’s eastern border is porous and known for smuggling.Lebanese armed group Hezbollah supported al-Assad with fighters during Syria’s civil war.

However, the Iran-aligned movement has been weakened after a war with Israel killed its longtime leader and damaged the group’s firepower, a factor helping the Syrian rebels to seize Damascus last month.

Lebanon is estimated to host about 1.5 million Syrian refugees, who fled the civil war in the country that started in 2011.

About 13 years of conflict have killed more than half a million people, ravaged the economy, and pushed millions to flee their homes as they were displaced internally and externally.

Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun said on Thursday that there was a historic opportunity for “serious and equitable dialogue” with Syria.

For much of the al-Assad family’s five decades in power, Syria held significant influence over Lebanon, maintaining a military presence for 29 years in the face of widespread opposition from many Lebanese.

Syria eventually withdrew its troops in 2005 under international pressure after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.