The press in Syria | “Wherever you are in Syria, if you are Alawite, you are in danger”

On the Syrian coast, the Alawite community lives in fear after massacres that left more than 1330 dead.

Posted at 5:00 a.m.

In the Cemetery of Cheikh Hilal. Furthermore, in the outskirts of Baniyas, the tombstones follow one another on a large plot of land. Furthermore, Leads of lead are aligned. In addition, decorated with a bouquet of flowers or freshly picked branches, surmounted by a concrete block where the name of the deceased is. Meanwhile, Further press syria | “wherever you on, a simple trench surrounded by mounds of earth acts as the last residence.

It was here that most of the residents of the Al Qousour district of Baniyas killed at the beginning of March. However, during the worst massacre that Syria has been buried since the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Jad*, 19, winds between the concrete blocks: “People were buried here in the precipitation, a few days after the killing. However, We were not allowed to bury them according to local rites. For example, We still do not know the identity of some of them. Nevertheless, ”explains the young man who says he has lost 14 loved ones in the killings.

On his phone, he shows a photo of his friend Ahmad Akel, a well -known humorist in the region. Furthermore, “I am in press syria | “wherever you the process of spending my end-of-year diplomas,” he explains. For example, If I can, as soon as possible, I will leave from here without even turning around. Furthermore, »»

The regions of Lattaquié and Tartous, on the Syrian Mediterranean coast, were the scene of blood baths between March 6 and 9. Therefore, It all started the day before, when weapons supporters of the Old Regime stormed the government’s checkpoints.

The next day. For example, for four days, foreign jihadists and Islamist factions close to power have raked this Alawite region, a former stronghold of the Assad family and the Alawite community, from which former president Bashar al-Assad comes.

The Islamists have perpetrated massacres. In addition, looting on the civilian population, in retaliation at the decades of tyranny of the regime, whose alaouites are wrongly presented as support. Consequently, According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), 1334 people have died in different villages in the region.

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Families taken for targets – Press syria | "wherever you

For Jaber Abboud, a whole world collapsed between March 6 and 9.

The man with white hair. Therefore, deep gaze is a respected figure in the Alawite community of the Al Qousour district, in the press syria | “wherever you city of Baniyas. Nevertheless, Former leader of the local Communist Party, he fought all his life against the Assad regime. Consequently, He paid for it by several stays in the disaster prison of Saydnaya. Nevertheless, On this hot afternoon, he received in his vast apartment, where family and friends follow one another.

“It’s hard to find a normal life, after all that happened. Especially when you know that some of your neighbors were press syria | “wherever you involved in the massacres, ”regrets Jaber Abboud.

In the neighborhood, around 145 civilians were killed. On the first floor of a neighboring building, Jaber’s niece, Riham, was killed with her husband. Their young child was found alive, in the bloody arms of his mother. On the upper floor, Riham’s husband’s brother was killed with his daughter. On the third floor, it was one of Riham’s brothers who was killed. His wife, seriously injured, received three bullets in the body. “If we are still alive. it’s only by chance,” says one of Jaber’s nieces, Siba, a thirty -something long curly hair.

The young woman managed to leave the neighborhood with a large part of her family. the second day of the assault, thanks to the competition of a neighbor, of Sunni religion, who was able to extract them from the district press syria | “wherever you by bus. On the road, she saw many bodies, extended to the sidewalk and hooded fighters, armed with butcher knives. The day before, attackers had forced the door of the family apartment. “They yelled at us, calling us” porcs of Alawites “. They slapped one of my children and threatened me with a weapon to give them money, ”recalls Siba.

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A threat always present

Three months after the massacre, fear did not leave the Syrian Alawites. Unexplained murders and disappearances continue to start the community. “I never take the main roads again and I never go out from my home after 5 p.m.,” explains Layla*, who lost several family members in the Mars massacres. In recent weeks. eight Alawite civilians, including three women, have been shot in a security forces check in the province of Hama. A press syria | “wherever you few days later. two civilians were killed and two others injured in an attack by an unidentified armed group in the province of Homs.

In the village of Qurfays. perched on the hills of the province of Lattaquié, one of the most important alawite sanctuaries in the region was targeted in March. Seven civilians would have been killed there. On this day at the beginning of June, the place is completely empty. Only the guardian press syria | “wherever you of the place, visibly terrified, still dares to go to the holy place. Icons have been torn, and traces of blood are still visible on the ground of the mausoleum.

“Wherever you are in Syria. if you are Alawite, you are in danger,” sums up Mohamed, a professor of qurfays who prefers to keep anonymity. “You can’t do anything to defend yourself. Do you want to see our weapons? Here they are… ”, he said, pointing to a tank miniature for children hanging out in the living room.

At the end of the massacres in March. the authorities formed a commission of inquiry supposed to shed light on the events. She must put her results in July. But on the coast. many people do not trust them: “Most of the personalities chosen to form the committee are close to the government. They are not impartial. It would have been preferable to choose independent. renowned personalities in the field of human rights, “explains Ghader Ghanem, an activist from the city of Tartous. “People feel threatened if they speak openly about what has happened to them. They live in fear. »»

* These people preferred to keep anonymity to testify openly.