A spate of attacks involving loyalists of 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

An ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar Assad escalated into clashes that a war monitor estimates have killed more than 1,000 people over four days.

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.