An ambulance evacuates injured individuals who took refuge in the Russian military base of Hmeimim, in the Latakia province, on March 11, 2025, several days after the massacres that mainly targeted the Alawite community in Syria. Omar Haj Kadour/AFP
The road from Idlib to Latakia is lined with General Security checkpoints, mismatched soldiers on motorcycles or in pickup trucks and the bullet-riddled wreckage of abandoned cars. On Tuesday, March 11, a day after the Syrian government announced the end of its military operation against insurgents of the former regime, remnants of the old order still lurked in the wooded hills flanking the battered asphalt, scarred by the devastating earthquake of Feb. 6, 2023.Beyond the final checkpoint, an “I Love Latakia” sign, painted in the colors of the revolution, serves as a reminder that on Feb. 16, newly elected Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was welcomed in Bashar al-Assad’s former stronghold by a crowd eager to turn the page on the fallen dictator.Less than a month has passed, yet the haunted city looks as if it has just emerged from a...
The road from Idlib to Latakia is lined with General Security checkpoints, mismatched soldiers on motorcycles or in pickup trucks and the bullet-riddled wreckage of abandoned cars. On Tuesday, March 11, a day after the Syrian government announced the end of its military operation against insurgents of the former regime, remnants of the old order still lurked in the wooded hills flanking the battered asphalt, scarred by the devastating earthquake of Feb. 6, 2023.Beyond the final checkpoint, an “I Love Latakia” sign, painted in the colors of the revolution, serves as a reminder that on Feb. 16, newly elected Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa was welcomed in Bashar al-Assad’s former stronghold by a crowd eager to turn the page on the fallen dictator.Less than a month has passed, yet the haunted city looks as if it has just emerged from...