A mother and her daughter hunch down by the windows of their attic as armed men gather outside the gate. They try not to make a sound. But in the video that they furtively recorded of this fraught moment, it\u2019s clear they can barely control their panicked breathing. <\/p>\n
Earlier that day, on March 7, the patriarch of the Khalil family had assured them that they were not in danger. The forces aligned with Syria\u2019s new Islamist government who had descended on their village of al-Sanobar were only going after people affiliated with the recently toppled dictator Bashar al-Assad, he reasoned. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t done anything wrong,\u201d his relative recalled him saying as they watched fighters storming their neighbors\u2019 home from their windows. Hours later, she said the patriarch was dead, his lifeless body splayed out on the patio next to his son\u2019s corpse. <\/p>\n
The killings at the Khalils\u2019 home, recounted through video and survivor testimonies, was one of many similar incidents that played out across Alawite communities in Syria\u2019s coastal region earlier this month. <\/p>\n
The attacks against Alawites raise questions about whether interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa can fulfill his promise to rule Syria in an inclusive way, ensuring the protection of minorities, and stop any insurgent factions from becoming a serious threat to the country\u2019s prospects for peace. <\/p>\n
The latest cycle of violence began when Assad loyalists staged a bloody ambush on forces aligned with Syria\u2019s new Sunni Islamist government on March 6 in what appeared to be a coordinated attack. It was Syria\u2019s worst violence since Assad was toppled last December and it prompted a deadly reprisal in the Latakia and Tartus provinces that the new government described as an effort to contain remnants of the former autocratic regime. <\/p>\n
The state blamed the mass killings on rogue elements. Al-Sharaa set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the killings and has vowed to hold the culprits to account. <\/p>\n
Human rights watchdog, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), said more than 800 people were killed in attacks following the ambush. Other rights groups say the number is even higher. <\/p>\n
Assad loyalists have staged several smaller attacks on government forces since then, according to authorities. <\/p>\n
Survivors said the attacks in Pine village began in the early hours of Friday, March 7, a day after the initial ambush by Assadist loyalists was reported. <\/p>\n