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Monday night's video showed masked gunmen setting fire to a Christmas tree
Protests broke out in Syria after the burning of a Christmas tree, prompting calls for new Islamist authorities to protect minorities.
A video posted on social media shows masked gunmen setting fire to the exposed tree in the main square of Suqaylabiyah, a predominantly Christian town in central Syria.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the main Islamist faction that led the uprising that ousted President Bashar al-Assad, said foreign fighters were arrested after the incident.
HTS representatives pledged to protect the rights and freedoms of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets across the country - through Damascus and Suqaylabiyah in Hama province. Two masked fighters appeared in a video on social media setting fire to a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve in Syria.
Footage of the scene that followed showed a cleric from the pro-government rebel group HTS assuring a crowd gathered in Suqaylabiyah that the tree would be repaired before dawn.
The man then held up a cross in solidarity, something Islamic hardliners would not do.
On Tuesday, more demonstrators took to the streets to protest the fire.
Some residents of the Kassa neighborhood of Damascus chanted slogans against foreign fighters in Syria. "Syria is free, non-Syrians must leave," they said, referring to foreign fighters accused by HTS of being behind the attack.
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In the Bab Touma neighborhood of Damascus, protesters carried a cross and Syrian flags, chanting "we sacrifice our souls for our cross."
"If we are not allowed to live our Christian faith in our country, as we did, then we no longer belong here," a protester named Georges told AFP news agency.
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Syria is home to many ethnic and religious groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Christians, Druze, Shia Alawites and Sunni Arabs, who make up the majority of the Muslim population.
Just over two weeks ago, Bashar al-Assad's presidency fell to rebel forces, ending more than 50 years of rule by the Assad family. The HTS group will rule Syria.
HTS began as a jihadist group - advocating violence to achieve its goal of creating a state governed by Islamic law (Sharia) - but in recent years has adopted a more pragmatic and less intransigent approach.
As fighters marched on Damascus earlier this month, its leaders spoke of building a Syria for all Syrians.
HTS remains designated a terrorist organization by the UN, the US, the EU and the UK, although there are signs that a diplomatic shift may be underway.
On Friday, the US dropped a $10 million reward for the capture of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa after meetings between senior diplomats and representatives of the group. The United States is continuing its military presence in Syria. It announced on Friday that 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 extremists or even regime supporters, who have an interest in causing insecurity and attacking minorities to undermine the country's stability, constitutes the major challenge that the new Islamic leadership will have to face.
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