A person gestures next to a burning picture of President Bashar al-Assad, after rebels seized the capital and ousted the president, in Qamishli, Syria December 8, 2024. REUTERS/Orhan Qereman/File Photo
DAMASCUS (Reuters) - The Sunni-led Islamist rebels who toppled Syria's Bashar al-Assad met elders in the former president's Alawite hometown on Monday and received their support, in what residents said was an encouraging sign of tolerance from the country's new rulers.
How the rebels treat the sizeable Alawite population, who widely backed Assad and from whom he drew his personal presidential guards, is seen in Syria as a lithmus test of whether the takeover of Damascus on Sunday leads to violent revenge against former loyalists of a hated five-decade regime.
