‘Gathered all men and opened fire on them’: Religious minority Alawites narrate ordeal of mass killings in Syria

Religious minority group Alawites, who’ve been the goal of the continuing revenge killings in Syria, narrated the ordeal of being a witness to the massacre that has resulted in the demise of over 745 in the nation.
With one survivor describing it because the “roads full of corpses”, different recollected how Assad loyalists “gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them.”
For two days, Rihab Kamel and her household cowered in their lavatory, terrified, as armed men stormed their neighborhood in Baniyas, focusing on Syria’s Alawite minority. The coastal metropolis, a stronghold of the Alawite neighborhood, 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 advised AFP, including, “What crime did the children commit? Are they also supporters of the (toppled) regime?”
The violence erupted final Thursday after gunmen loyal to Assad attacked Syria’s new safety forces. The ensuing clashes left dozens useless on each side. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that not less than 745 Alawite civilians have been killed in Latakia and Tartus provinces by safety forces and allied teams.

Reports of mass graves and executions

In the port metropolis of Latakia, witnesses reported that armed teams kidnapped and executed Alawite civilians. Among them was Yasser Sabbouh, the pinnacle of a state-run cultural heart, whose corpse was later dumped exterior his dwelling.
Samir Haidar, a 67-year-old resident of Baniyas, recounted the harrowing loss of two brothers and a nephew, killed by armed teams storming properties. Despite being an Alawite, Haidar had been a leftist opposition determine beneath the Assads and spent over a decade in jail.
“They gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them,” Haidar stated, including, “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 known as 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 stays on edge, fearing retribution for the Assad household’s many years of brutal rule. Many residents report systematic killings in villages and cities alongside the coast.