Die Milizen kämpfen für die Bildung eines abtrünnigen Küstenstaates im Nahen Osten

The fragile calm that followed [Bashar al-Assad](https://inews.co.uk/topic/bashar-al-assad?srsltid=AfmBOoonV-EHKMdrDZtMoJtLGp7j-isRfMS2B7nQx0ZlkvtYZ6-FiPxj&ico=in-line_link)’s ouster as Syrian president almost a year ago shattered in March, when gruesome sectarian killings broke out along the country’s impoverished coast.

Since then, the region has remained tense, gripped by simmering violence, and an unfolding pattern of kidnappings and targeted killings alongside guerrilla strikes on Damascus’s security forces.

In response, [President Ahmed al-Sharaa](https://inews.co.uk/news/syria/assads-regime-on-the-brink-of-collapse-as-rebels-surround-damascus-3420387?ico=in-line_link)’s government has flooded the coast with security forces, erecting dense networks of checkpoints and launching frequent sweeps through villages in search of regime holdouts.

There are now growing concerns that these could be signs of a re-emerging insurgency, as militias calling for the “liberation” of the coastal region have managed to partly wrestle it out of government control.