Daily Times

The toppling of Bashar Assad has raised tentative hopes that Syrians might live peacefully and as equals after a half century of authoritarian rule.

While there have been bursts of deadly sectarian violence in the days since Assad was ousted, it´s nothing close to what was feared after nearly 14 years of civil war.

Much credit for the relative calm so far is being given to the Islamic militant group that led the insurgency against Assad and is helping to rebuild the country and unite its many factions. The group – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS – had ties to al-Qaida, but it has vowed not to discriminate against any religion or ethnicity, and it has denounced revenge killings.

In the days since Assad´s fall, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and experts who monitor Syria. The vast majority have been from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shia Islam that the Assad family adheres to.

Given the key role Alawites played in Assad’s brutally repressive government, experts had expected sectarian violence to be more widespread. But HTS has worked to reduce tensions in villages where revenge killings – as well as looting and harassment – have taken place, according to local activists. Whether peace and pluralism will prevail longer-term remains to be seen, experts caution.

“The extent of the reprisals has been quite limited,” said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. “We hope this violence will not escalate, leading to an outburst of civil strife.”

During the Assad family´s 50 years of iron-fisted rule, Alawites held many top positions in the military and in the intelligence and security services, which ran prisons where thousands of people accused of anti-government activities were tortured and killed, according to human rights groups. The interim government led by HTS has vowed to gather evidence and hold trials in a special court against former officials who oversaw, or worked in, Assad’s notorious prisons. It has also promised amnesty for other government workers and former members of the military, some of whom have started handing in their weapons. “If we want to establish social peace there must be justice, and there is no justice without accountability,” said Obeida Arnaout, a spokesman for the interim government.