The Syrian civil war, beginning in 2011 as part of the wider Arab Spring protests against the Assad government, developed strong sectarian dimensions as the conflict progressed, with the Alawite-led government drawing core support from Alawite, Christian and some Druze communities fearful of Sunni Islamist rule, while much of the armed opposition drew on Sunni Arab majority communities and, increasingly, explicitly Sunni Islamist and jihadist factions including the Islamic State, which briefly controlled roughly a third of Syrian territory between 2014 and 2017 and subjected religious minorities, particularly Yazidis and Christians, to mass killing, enslavement and forced conversion.
The war and the Islamic State's campaign devastated Syria's ancient Christian population through displacement and emigration, reducing communities in cities such as Aleppo and Homs to a fraction of their prewar size, and destroyed or damaged significant religious heritage, including parts of the ancient city of Palmyra and its temple complexes.
Following the Assad government's fall in December 2024, Syria's new transitional authorities, with roots in a former Sunni Islamist insurgent faction, have pledged protection for religious and ethnic minorities, though minority communities, including Alawites, Christians and Druze, have expressed continuing uncertainty about their status and security under the new order.