Taking Syria’s coastal region as a case study, this research analyzes the local communities’ responses to social change engendered by the conflict. It focuses on three emergent phenomena: the arrival of displaced Sunni populations to the Alawite-dominated coastal region; the changing economic relationships connecting and dividing the coast’s Alawites and Sunnis; the emergence of local governance initiatives reshaping the Alawite community’s relationship with the regime and the central state. On the basis of these observations, the study draws conclusions about the conflict’s impact on cross-sectarian relationships in local communities on the one hand, and the evolving relationship between local communities and central authorities—namely the Syrian regime and the state—on the other.