Latakia: In the Syrian city of Latakia, about 330 kilometers from Damascus, Ali Koshmar, 36, woke up to the sound of gunfire. He could hear the sound of car tires screeching along with the gunfire, and dozens of armed men shouting. One of them shouted, “Come out, Alawite, Naseer!”

This Naseer term is used for the followers of Ibn Naseer, a respected figure in the Alawite community. Alawites make up about 12 percent of Syria’s population and live mostly in the Latakia and Tartus regions.

In contrast, 70-75 percent of the total population of Syria is Sunni Muslim. Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, who himself belonged to the Alawite community, Alawites have been targeted. Pro-government fighters are massacring the Alawite community, chanting slogans of uprooting the remnants of the old system. Alawite homes are being attacked, they are being forcibly displaced, and they are being killed en masse.

Ali Koshmar said: Armed men entered our village, they approached our house and shouted, “Come out, Alawite, Naseer!” They broke down the doors and They opened fire on us indiscriminately. They took my brother away, and we still don’t know what happened to him. They are finishing us off. Ali Koshmar was stabbed three times – once in the head, once in the back and once in the stomach. He says: “I bled all night, finally they found a car to take me to the hospital.”

I am now stable, but my family and I do not feel safe at all. We do not know how much longer we will be able to live. Our very name reveals our Alawite identity. Our accent is exposing us. Even the identity of our area of ​​residence is putting us in danger. Tensions have been high between the Alawite community and Sunni militant groups, especially fighters inspired by Wahhabi ideology.

After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year, these fighters infiltrated the area and began targeting not only government supporters and soldiers, but also civilians, farmers, Christians and Shia Muslims. Sectarian violence has escalated in the Hama region after the killing of 86-year-old Alawite cleric Sheikh Shaban Mansour and his son. Videos of militants carrying out public killings have been circulating on social media.

At least 973 civilians have been killed since March 6, including women and children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a human rights group. The group has described the incidents as part of ethnic cleansing, meaning killings carried out to eliminate a specific community. Ibrahim Salama, a 31-year-old computer science engineer based in Latakia, said: “When the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, we opened our doors to displaced Syrians, regardless of religion.

We did the same in 2020 and 2022. Syrians do not accept sectarian divisions, but the new government is failing to save this brotherhood. Last week, 200 fighters led by former Assad army general Ghiyath Dala and field commander Miqdad Fatiha attacked the army of Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the head of the group, killing several militants.

The attack prompted the government to send in troops to intervene. Hussein Khalaf, 33, from Tartus, said: “People from different provinces of Syria are joining al-Julani’s army, and they are committing genocide against Alawites. In addition to the massacres, there are large-scale displacements in Jabaliya, Latakia, Baniyas and other rural areas. Houses are being burned down, and forced displacements are being forced. Entire families are being killed.

Armed groups active in Syria, such as al-Amshat and al-Hamzat, as well as fighters from Chechnya, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, are also involved in these attacks. According to Hussein Khalaf: They have killed entire families in Baniyas, Jabaliya, and Qarto. Several videos have surfaced on Telegram and WhatsApp showing scenes of mass killings and brutal executions. In one video, a Syrian fighter is seen standing over bloodied bodies.

In another video, a man is seen hanging from a crane, having been publicly executed. Ibrahim Salama, who comes from a mixed religious family – his mother is Sunni, his father is Alawite, and some relatives are Christian – said: The Alawite community is not opposed to the new Syrian government, nor does it want the return of the Assad regime. But several armed groups in the new government are out of control, and they are fueling sectarian hatred. Some militant groups under government patronage are not ready to surrender, and they are still carrying out their operations. Fear is growing among the Alawite community, and they are being forced to migrate in search of safety.