Minority sect of ousted President lives in fear as violence grips Syria’s coast

Authorities have not provided a toll, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the number of dead at 1,383 civilians, mostly Alawites. Human Rights Watch said ‘hundreds’ were killed.

For several days, Syria’s Mediterranean coast has been gripped by extreme violence that has seen mass killings mainly targeting members of the Alawite minority.

Authorities have not provided a toll, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the number of dead at 1,383 civilians, mostly Alawites. Human Rights Watch said “hundreds” were killed.

Since former President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December, many Alawites — his sect — have feared reprisals for his brutal rule.

Interim President Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, also called Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that toppled Mr. Assad, has vowed to prosecute those behind the “bloodshed of civilians” and set up a fact-finding committee.

Survivors, witnesses and rights groups described a wave of violence since last Thursday targeting Alawite civilians in their coastal heartland.

“In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families — women, children, and individuals ‘hors de combat’ (non-combatants) among them — were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular,” UN human rights office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said on Tuesday.

“According to many testimonies collected by our office, perpetrators raided houses, asking residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before proceeding to either kill or spare them accordingly... Some survivors told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families,” he said.