Syrian security forces used gunfire on Tuesday to break up two rival groups of demonstrators in the coastal town of Latakia, heartland of ​the country’s Alawite minority, witnesses and officials said. Syria has been rocked by several episodes ‌of sectarian violence since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad, who hails from the Muslim Alawite minority, was ousted by a rebel ‌offensive last year and replaced by a Sunni-led government. Witnesses said hundreds of Alawite protesters had gathered to demand a decentralised political system in Syria and the release of men they say were unjustly detained by the country’s new authorities. Supporters of the government then gathered and began shouting insults at the Alawites.

Full report : Syrian security forces use gunfire to disperse rival protests in Alawite heartland.