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Questions around a compound of Shiite refugees from Syria show lingering post-Assad fears
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A Syrian Shiite woman walks next of portraits of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, foreground, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Naim Kassem, centre, and the late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, background, at the Imam Ali Housing Compound, where hundreds of mostly Lebanese and Syrian Shiite Muslims displaced from Syria reside, in Hermel, northeast Lebanon, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. - photo by AP Photo/Hussein Malla
HERMEL, Lebanon (AP) — A walled compound in Lebanon housing hundreds of people who fled their homes in Syria after the fall of Bashar Assad over a year ago has drawn allegations that the residents are Assad loyalists, which they deny. The attention on the compound in Hermel town highlights the sensitivities around Syria’s transformation after a long civil war, suspicions that can linger about identity and minorities' fear of retaliation. The Associated Press visited the 228-unit compound in northeastern Lebanon along Syria's border.