17 March 2025

Latakia, Syria  — Desperation among the Alawite community in the city of Latakia, Syria — fueled by poverty, neglect and humiliation under the country’s new authorities — had left the ground fertile for a rebellion. In late February, most shops in the coastal city were shuttered, replaced by streetside vendors who sold an assortment of random items: canned goods, perfumes, underwear and meats. 

A middle-aged man stood along the road, beside three gallon containers of gasoline. “The situation is very bad, I don’t have a salary, I can’t afford a home,” he told me, looking down at his shoes. He had served in the Syrian army for nine years, until the rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and affiliated militants overthrew President Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8, 2024. He was one of many former soldiers in Latakia left jobless after Assad’s fall, who then had no option but to collect what they could find and sell it on the streets. The man was timid, peering around as he spoke. He requested that I mention no identifying details before beginning his story. 

The night he received word that rebels had reached Damascus, he was stationed at the Jdaidet Yabous border crossing station, by Lebanon’s border with Syria. He and his comrades dropped their arms and proceeded on foot to Damascus — a walk of nearly 25 miles. Exhausted, cold and with blistered feet, they were confronted at each checkpoint with an “incredible” amount of harassment, he said. “Armed men from Idlib wearing masks” cursed at him, he said, chanting sectarian slurs against Alawites, a religious minority in Syria, to which he and the deposed Assad belong. The harassment didn’t stop that night. When he returned to Latakia and lined up outside one of the “reconciliation centers” for former soldiers, he said dozens of people were “cursing out loud” at him.

Now, he is near-destitute, another humiliation. On a good day, he said, he makes a mere $3. As we finished our conversation, I asked if I could take a photo of the gasoline he was selling. Shyly, he declined. “Why? It’s nothing, there’s no need,” he said, avoiding my eye contact, ashamed of his situation.