Religious minority group Alawites, who have been the target of the ongoing revenge killings in Syria, narrated the ordeal of being a witness to the bloodbath that has resulted in the death of over 745 in the country.
With one survivor describing it as the “roads full of corpses”, other recollected how Assad loyalists “gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them.”
For two days, Rihab Kamel and her family cowered in their bathroom, terrified, as armed men stormed their neighborhood in Baniyas, targeting Syria’s Alawite minority. The coastal city, a stronghold of the Alawite community, has been engulfed in the worst violence since former president Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December.
“We turned off the lights and hid. When we were able to flee our neighbourhood of Al-Qusour, we found the roads full of corpses,” Kamel told AFP, adding, “What crime did the children commit? Are they also supporters of the (toppled) regime?”
The violence erupted last Thursday after gunmen loyal to Assad attacked Syria’s new security forces. The resulting clashes left dozens dead on both sides. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 745 Alawite civilians were killed in Latakia and Tartus provinces by security forces and allied groups.
Reports of mass graves and executions
In the port city of Latakia, witnesses reported that armed groups abducted and executed Alawite civilians. Among them was Yasser Sabbouh, the head of a state-run cultural center, whose corpse was later dumped outside his home.
Samir Haidar, a 67-year-old resident of Baniyas, recounted the harrowing loss of two brothers and a nephew, killed by armed groups storming homes. Despite being an Alawite, Haidar had been a leftist opposition figure under the Assads and spent over a decade in prison.
“They gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them,” Haidar said, adding, “My nephew survived because he hid, but my brother was killed along with all the men in the building.”
Fears of reprisals amid political transition
Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in the offensive that toppled Assad, has called for “national unity and civil peace.” Speaking at a mosque in Damascus, he expressed hopes for reconciliation, stating, “God willing, we will be able to live together in this country.”
Despite these assurances, Syria’s Alawite heartland remains on edge, fearing retribution for the Assad family’s decades of brutal rule. Many residents report systematic killings in villages and towns along the coast.
