The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and eyewitnesses reported unprecedented protests by the Alawite minority in several Syrian cities after a video circulated on social media showing an attack on a place of worship of the religious group.

Three witnesses told AFP that protests took place in the coastal cities of Tartous, Jableh and Lattakia in western Syria, dominated by the Alawite community from which ousted president Bashar al-Assad hails.

The Syrian Observatory confirmed similar protests in Banyas and Homs – the major city in central Syria – where police there declared a curfew from 9pm to 6am, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.