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Early one evening in late January, 12 masked men stormed the Damascus home of Um Hassan’s family, pointed AK-47 assault rifles in their faces and ordered them to leave.

When they presented ownership documents, the men arrested Um Hassan’s oldest brother and said they could only have him back once they had moved out. The family surrendered the house 24 hours later and picked him up, battered and bruised, from the local General Security Service headquarters, said Um Hassan, giving only her nickname for fear of reprisals.

Her family is part of Syria’s minority Alawite community, an offshoot of the Shi’ite faith and the sect of former strongman Bashar al-Assad. Their story is not unique.

Since Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa seized power in December, hundreds of Alawites have been forced from their private homes in Damascus by the security forces, according to Syrian officials, Alawite leaders, human rights groups and 12 people with similar accounts who spoke to Reuters.

“We’re definitely not talking about independent incidents. We are talking about hundreds, if not thousands, of cases of evictions,” said Bassam Alahmad, executive director of human rights group Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ).

The mass evictions of Alawites from privately owned homes have not been previously reported.

For more than 50 years, Assad and his father before him crushed any opposition from Syria’s Sunni Muslims, who make up more than 70% of the population. Alawites took many of the top positions in government and the military and ran big businesses.

They now accuse supporters of Sharaa, who once ran an al Qaeda affiliate, of systematically abusing them as payback.

In March, hundreds of Alawites were killed in Syria’s western coastal region and sectarian violence spread to Damascus in apparent retribution for a deadly ambush on Syria’s new security forces by armed Assad loyalists.

Two government officials said thousands of people had been kicked out of homes in Damascus since Assad was toppled by Sharaa’s rebel force, with the majority being Alawites.

The officials said most resided in government housing associated with their jobs in state institutions and, since they were no longer employed, they had lost their right to stay.

But hundreds more, like Um Hassan, were evicted from their privately owned homes simply because they are Alawites, Reuters interviews with multiple officials and victims show.

The interior ministry, which oversees the GSS, and Sharaa’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country would “never” yield to the United States as he declared victory in federal elections early Tuesday, following a campaign overshadowed by relentless provocations and steep trade tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The Liberal Party leader issued a stunning rebuke to Trump as he sent a message of unity to a divided nation, promising to “represent everyone who calls Canada home.”

“As I have been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. But these are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us,” Carney said, as he hailed a remarkable reversal in fortune for his party. “That will never ever happen.”

Carney reiterated statements he made on the campaign trail about the vastly changed nature of Canada’s relationship with the United States.

“We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons. We have to look out for ourselves. And above all we have to take care of each other,” he said.


Voters have returned Canada’s Liberal Party to power for a fourth consecutive term, but Carney will lead a minority government, according to projections from CNN’s broadcast partner CBC.

The Liberals won 169 seats, three short of the 172 needed to govern without support from a smaller party. In many Canadian constituencies, known as ridings, the results were close and could be subject to judicial recounts in the coming weeks.

Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat early Tuesday. Capping a bad night for his party, Poilievre – whose party enjoyed a lead of more than 20 points over the Liberals before Trump returned to the White House – also lost his seat of Carleton to the Liberal challenger, Bruce Fanjoy. Poilievre had held that Ottawa-area seat for more than 20 years.

Leaders from Mexico, the European Union, Australia, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere were quick to congratulate Carney on his victory. Carney’s office said in a statement Tuesday evening that Trump had also called the prime minister to congratulate him.

“The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together – as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment,” the statement read. “To that end, the leaders agreed to meet in person in the near future.”