Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is facing the gravest challenge to his leadership since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December, as the country grapples with its deadliest outbreak of violence in over a decade.

Clashes between security forces loyal to Sharaa’s Islamist-led government and pro-Assad insurgents have claimed over 1,000 lives in just days, with the majority being civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor.

This escalation, centered in Assad’s former coastal strongholds, threatens to unravel the fragile stability Sharaa has sought to establish since his Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), toppled the Assad regime.

Reuters reported on March 9 that Sharaa addressed the nation from a mosque in his childhood neighborhood of Mazzah, Damascus, urging Syrians to preserve “national unity and domestic peace.”

His plea came as fighting persisted for a fourth day in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous, regions historically loyal to Assad’s Alawite sect.

“We can live together,” Sharaa insisted in a circulated video, attempting to quell sectarian tensions that have flared since his rise to power.

Yet, the scale of the violence—described by the Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman as one of the highest death tolls since Assad’s 2013 chemical attack that killed 1,400—casts doubt on his ability to unify a fractured nation.

The unrest erupted earlier this week when forces aligned with Sharaa’s government launched a crackdown on a growing insurgency led by remnants of Assad’s military.

Reuters cited Syrian security sources claiming that approximately 5,000 pro-Assad fighters have taken refuge in the rugged, forested mountains surrounding Latakia, Jabla, and Baniyas.

These insurgents, employing hit-and-run tactics, have targeted security forces and civilian infrastructure, damaging a power station, water pumping facilities, and fuel depots in the past 24 hours.

“They are now trying to create havoc, disrupt life, and attack vital installations,” one security source told Reuters, highlighting the insurgents’ strategy to destabilize Sharaa’s rule.

The BBC noted earlier this week that the violence marks the worst since Assad’s fall, with Alawite activists reporting targeted attacks on their communities in rural Homs and Latakia.

The Observatory’s breakdown of casualties—745 civilians, 125 security personnel, and 148 pro-Assad fighters—underscores the disproportionate toll on civilians, many of them Alawites, including women and children.

This sectarian dimension complicates Sharaa’s narrative of inclusivity, as his HTS roots, once tied to al-Qaeda, fuel suspicions among Syria’s minorities about his intentions.

Sharaa’s response has been twofold: a public call for peace and a military push to crush the insurgency.

Reuters reported that Damascus has deployed reinforcements to bolster security in the coastal region, with police establishing new checkpoints in Latakia amid ongoing gunfire and artillery barrages audible on the city’s outskirts.

However, the insurgents’ advantage in the mountainous terrain has slowed progress, with a security source admitting to Reuters that the pace of fighting had only “slowed” rather than stopped.

International reaction has been swift but cautious.

The European Union, which has engaged with Sharaa since he assumed power, condemned “all violence against civilians” and warned against actions that could undermine Syria’s prospects for a peaceful transition, according to Reuters.

Sharaa’s leadership, formalized in January when he was declared transitional president, has been a delicate balancing act—promising justice and reconstruction while consolidating power through HTS’s military dominance.

Al Jazeera reported on January 29 that Sharaa dissolved all armed factions, including HTS, into state institutions, a move intended to legitimize his rule but now tested by this insurgency.

Analysts see this violence as a critical juncture.

The coastal unrest not only challenges Sharaa’s control but also exposes the limits of his authority beyond Sunni-majority areas.

Assad’s ouster ended decades of Alawite-led repression, yet the rapid resurgence of loyalist resistance suggests deep-seated divisions persist.

Sharaa’s assurances that “Syria has the characteristics for survival,” as quoted by Reuters, ring hollow to many in Latakia and Tartous, where residents report a breakdown in basic services amid the chaos.

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