
Clashes between the Islamists who took control of Syria and supporters of the government of ousted President Bashar al-Assad resulted in the death of six Islamist fighters on Wednesday and the wounding of others, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the fighters were killed while trying to arrest a former official in the Assad government accused of issuing death orders and arbitrary sentences against thousands of prisoners. The fighters were from Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which led the stunning offensive that ousted Assad earlier this month.
The transition in Syria has been surprisingly smooth, but it has only been a few weeks since Assad fled the country and his administration and forces dissolved. The rebels who ousted Assad are rooted in a fundamentalist Islamic ideology, and although they have pledged to create a multiparty system, it is not clear how or whether they plan to share power.
Since the fall of Assad, dozens of Syrians have been killed in acts of revenge, according to activists and observers, the vast majority of whom are from the Alawite sect, a branch of the Shiite sect to which Assad belongs.
In the capital, Damascus, Alawite demonstrators clashed with Sunni counter-demonstrators, and gunshots were heard. The Associated Press was unable to confirm details of the shooting.
Alawite protests also took place along the Syrian coast in the city of Homs and the Hama countryside. Some called for the release of former Syrian army soldiers now imprisoned by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. The Syrian Observatory said that at least one demonstrator was killed and five others were injured in Homs as a result of the forces of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham suppressing the demonstration. In response to the protests, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The Alawite protests appear to have been sparked in part by an online video showing the burning of an Alawite shrine. The interim authorities insisted that the video was old and not a recent incident.
Sectarian violence has erupted in spurts since Assad’s ouster but nowhere near the level feared after nearly 14 years of civil war that has killed an estimated half a million people. The war has torn Syria apart, creating millions of refugees and displacing tens of thousands across the country.
This week, some forcibly displaced Syrians began returning to their homes, trying to rebuild their lives. Many were shocked by the devastation, finding that little remained of their homes.
In the Idlib region in the northwest of the country, residents were repairing shops and closing damaged windows on Tuesday, in an attempt to restore a sense of normalcy.
Idlib city and much of the surrounding province remained for years under the control of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Muhammad al-Julani, who was allied with al-Qaeda, but it was the scene of relentless attacks. Attacks by government forces.
Hajja Zakia Daysid, who was forcibly displaced during the war, said that returning to her home in the Idlib countryside was bittersweet.
The 62-year-old said: “My husband and I spent 43 years of hard work saving money to build our house, only to find that it was all in vain.”
In the dusty neighborhoods, cars passed by with luggage strapped on top. People stood idly in the streets or sat in empty cafes.
In Damascus, new Syrian authorities raided warehouses on Wednesday, confiscating drugs such as the banned stimulant Captagon and hashish, which were being used by Assad’s forces. The interim authorities said that a million Captagon pills and hundreds of kilograms of hashish caught fire.