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Protests have taken place in Syria over the burning of a Christmas tree near the city of Hama.
A video posted on social media showed masked militants setting fire to a tree displayed in the main square of Suqaylabiyah, a predominantly Christian town in central Syria.
The main Islamist group that led the uprising that ousted President Bashar al-Assad said the arsonists were foreign terrorists and had been arrested.
Many protests took to the streets across the country, demanding that the new Muslim regime protect religious minorities.
Two masked fighters appeared in a video on social media burning a Christmas tree the night before Christians in Syria were set to celebrate Christmas.
The footage showed a cleric from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorist group assuring the crowds gathered in Suqaylabiyah that the tree would be repaired before dawn.
The man then raised a cross to show solidarity, something conservative Muslims would not do.
On Tuesday, some protesters took to the streets because of the burning.
Some in the Kassa neighborhood of Damascus chanted against foreign fighters in Syria.
“Syria is free, non-Syrians must leave,” he said, referring to the foreign HTS fighters he claimed were responsible for the attack.
In the Bab Touma area of Damascus, protesters carried a cross and Syrian flags, chanting that “we will sacrifice our lives for our cross”.
“If we are not allowed to have the Christian faith in our country as we did before, then we will not live here anymore,” a protester surnamed Georges told the AFP news agency.
Syria is home to many ethnicities and religions, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Alawite Shia and Sunni Arabs, the latter making up the majority of Muslims.
Just two weeks ago, Bashar al-Assad’s leadership fell in a coup, ending more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family.
How HTS will rule Syria remains to be seen.
HTS began as a jihadist group – promoting violence to achieve its goal of establishing a state governed by Islamic (Sharia) law – but in recent years it has adopted a more visible, uncompromising approach.
When fighters marched on Damascus earlier this month, its leaders spoke of rebuilding Syria for all Syrians.
Representatives also said that the rights and freedoms of religious and ethnic minorities will be protected.
HTS is still designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, US, EU and UK, although there are signs that diplomatic reforms are underway.
On Friday, The US has lost $10m (£7.9m). on the head of the leader of HTS Ahmed al-Sharaa, following meetings between senior diplomats and representatives of the group.
The US continues to be involved in the war in Syria. It said on Friday it had carried out an airstrike in the northern city of Deir Ezzor – killing two members of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
The presence of foreign fighters, Islamic terrorists, or supporters of regimes interested in creating insecurity and attacking minorities to shake the stability of the country is the biggest challenge that the new Islamic leadership will face.
