The region has been a target of attacks since long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite, was overthrown by the HTS-led coalition in December, and hundreds of people were killed in a sectarian massacre in the area in March, AFP news agency said.
Demonstrators in Latakia shouted slogans such as “Syrian people are one” and “All the world, listen to us. Alawites will not yield.”
Security forces were deployed in the city but did not intervene.
“We are one united people. We want the withdrawal of armed groups in the region, justice for the martyrs on the coast, the release of prisoners of war…We don’t know what they are being accused of,” said Jumana, a 58-year-old lawyer who declined to give his last name.
People gathered in other areas as well.
The protests, the largest in the Alawite region since the fall of the Assad regime, followed a social media call by the Islamic Alawite Supreme Council in Syria and abroad.
Sectarian violence gripped Syria’s Alawite heartland in March, killing at least 1,426 members of the minority community, authorities said. It said the violence began with attacks on government forces by Assad supporters.
War monitors said more than 1,700 people were killed.
MNA/FNA1764068909782311923