Syria's government begins to return Alawi lands, while maintaining its hold over others

Syria's government begins to return Alawi lands, while maintaining its hold over others Submitted by Natacha Danon on Mon, 06/01/2026 - 09:09 Displaced Alawi farmers tell MEE that their homes and land have been occupied by Sunni neighbours and administered by a powerful state company called Iktifaa Pistachio trees in full bloom in the northern Hama countryside (Natacha Danon/MEE) Off Ahmed Ali says he was fired from his job as a Syrian civil servant in 2019 for refusing to do his mandatory military service. “I refused to join the army and kill people,” Ali, who is using a pseudonym, told Middle East Eye. After his dismissal, he decided to dedicate himself to his pistachio farm – 150 dunums (15 hectares) of trees in the northern Hama countryside that has been in the family for more than 50 years. Before the 2011-2024 civil war broke out, Syria’s multimillion-dollar pistachio industry ranked fourth in the world. During the conflict, northern Hama - the pistachio heartland - became the front line between the Syrian army and rebel factions. Picturesque villages became hotspots for sectarian violence between Sunnis, the community that most rebels were drawn from, and Alawis, the sect that the former president, Bashar al-Assad, belongs to. Thousands of Sunnis were displaced from their lands and cut off from their livelihoods by fighting and arbitrary arrests. When a lightning rebel offensive removed Assad’s government in late 2024, many of those Sunnis were able to flock back to their villages. 'Our goal is to restore civil peace, and our thinking is that of a state and its institutions, not that of a faction' -  Hassan al-Hassan, deputy governor of Hama Alaw...

Original source: Middle East Eye