Syrians describe terror as the families of the Alavites who died in their homes

Syria’s temporary leader appealed for unity when the killings and revenge continued on Sunday, which continued in the areas loyal to Bashar al -Assad.

Hundreds of people have reportedly fled at the houses in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus – the support of Assad’s support.

The locals described the scenes of robbery and massacres, including children.

In Khai al Kuurs, residents, mostly Alavichy surroundings in the coastal city of Bania, residents say the streets are filled with scattered bodies, saturated and covered with blood. Witnesses said men of different ages were shot.

On Friday, people were too frightened to even look out of their windows. Internet connection is unstable, but when connected, they learned about the death of neighbors from Facebook reports.

One person, Ayman Fares, told the BBC that he had been rescued by recent imprisonment. In August 2023, he posted a video in his Facebook account, criticizing Bashar Assad for his corrupt rule. He was arrested shortly after after the fall of Assad in December last December, Assad was released only when the forces under the leadership of Islamists were released.

The soldiers who searched the streets let Al Kuure recognized him, so he deprived his death but not looting. They took his cars and continued to carry out other houses.

“They were strangers, I could not determine their identity or language, but they seemed to be Uzbek or Chechen,” Mr. Faare said to me.

“There were some Syrians with them, but not with official security. Some civilians were also among those who were murdered,” he added.

Mr. Fares said he saw families killed in their own homes and women and children are covered with blood. Some families ran to the roofs to hide but did not deprive the bloodshed. “It’s awful,” he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in the UK recorded more than 740 civilians who died in the coastal cities of Latakia, Jabla and Bania. 300 other law enforcement officers and residues of Assad were killed in the fighting.

BBC could not independently check the death toll.

Mr. Faare said that everything stabilized when the Syrian army and security forces arrived in the city of Bania. He put forward other factions from the city and provided corridors for families to access safe areas, he said.

Ali, another resident of the bania who asked us not to use his full name, confirmed the Mr Farez account. Ali, who lived in a cousin with his wife and a 14-year-old daughter, fled the house with the participation of the security forces.

“They came to our building. We were too frightened, just listening to the fire and screams of people in the neighborhood. We learned about death from sporadic messages on Facebook when we managed to connect. But when they came to our building, we thought they finished,” he said.

“They were after money. They knocked on the door of our neighbor, taking it by the car, the money and all the gold or the values ​​he had in his home. But he was not killed.”

Ali and his family were taken away by his Sunni neighbors who follow the other branch of Islam, and now remain with them. “We lived together for many years, Alawi, Sunni and Christians. We never felt it,” he told me.

“The Sunni rushed to defend the Alavites from the murder, and now the official forces are in the city to restore order.”

Ali said the families were taken to school in the neighborhood, which is predominantly Sunni, where they would be protected until the members of the group who had murders would be displaced from the bania.

Violence began on Thursday after the Assad Loyalists – who refused to give up weapons – a safety force around the coastal cities of Latakia and Jabla, killed by dozens.

Ghiath Dallah, a former Brigadier General in the Assad’s army, announced a new uprising against the current government, saying that he was creating a “military council for the liberation of Syria.”

Some reports believe that former Assad security officers who refused to give up weapons form a resistance group in the mountains.

Mr. Faare said that most of the community of Alavita dismissed them and accused of giving other Assad’s cruel loyalists.

“They will use the bloodshed that is happening. We now need official security to prevail and pursue killers from the groups who have done massacres, so the country resumes security,” he said.

But others also accuse the temporary president Ahmad al-Sharao, saying that he had dismantled the safety of Syria, army and police institutions without a clear strategy for the fight against thousands of officers and employees who remained unemployed.

Some of these people, especially among the police, had nothing to do with the murder during the Assad regime. The new authorities also rejected thousands of civil servants from their work.

Of the 90% of Syria’s population below the poverty, and thousands left without income, it is a fertile soil for the uprising.

Syria has a split about what is happening. The broad community condemns the murder of any civilians, and a demonstration was organized in Damascus to mourn death and condemn violence.

But in the last two days there were calls for “jihad” in different parts of Syria. Banias residents said there were several civilians who were armed and combined with the factions.

Most Sunnis Syria have encountered atrocities in the hands of Assad’s regime for the last 13 years. This fueled the sectarian hatred mainly to the minority of Alawit, where the members of the community are connected with military crimes.

According to human rights groups, there is evidence that the Alavites staff were involved in the murder and torture of thousands of Syrians, most of whom are Muslims -Sunnis, during Assad regime.

Those members of the army and security forces who were killed are mostly from the Sunni community, and now some in the Sunni community urge to pay off, but the president called for peace.

Sharaa, whose Islamist forces overthrew Assad three months ago, should now balance, providing security for anyone who is committed to justice for the crimes of Assad and his textbooks.

While he has powers over some troops that helped him in power, some factions clearly go out of his control. These factions also include foreign fighters with a radical Islamist program.

To bring Syria into a safe and democratic future, many claim that Sharaa must stop the existence of any foreign militants and provide a constitution that protects the rights of all Syrians, regardless of their origin and religion.

While it is allegedly working on a legal framework for such a constitution, control over the fierce fractions and expulsion of foreign militants will be the main problem.