A spate of attacks involving loyalists to former ruler President Bashar al-Assad has spurred concerns of a return to sectarian warfare in Syria, but there is still a path for the country’s new

A Syrian military operation against remnants of the former Assad regime has now ended, having sparked some of the worst violence seen in the country in years.

The number of civilians killed in the recent wave of violence in Syria has risen to 1,383, according to a human rights watchdog. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had documented three new massacres.

Syria's fragile transition from decades of Assad family brutal rule has been greatly shaken with an outburst of sectarian retribution and killings, posing a serious challenge to the new leadership led by Ahmad Sharaa.