Six Syrian Alawites killed in outbreak of sectarian violence

France has called on President Ahmad Al Shara to protect minorities in the country

A Syrian Alawite family arrive at their village of Sanobar, in Latakia, where violence has been rife. Reuters

Gunmen have killed six Alawite civilians on the coast and in the interior of the country in the past 24 hours, sources in the community said on Sunday, days after Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara discussed protecting the country’s minorities during a visit to France.

France, the first western nation to receive Mr Al Shara as President, has been at the forefront of a European drive to ease sanctions on Syria and provide recovery funds since Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, formerly linked to Al Qaeda, led a rebel offensive that toppled the regime last year. The country has been a major refugee destination for Syrians who fled the 14-year civil war.

On Saturday evening, former rebels still allied with HTS, who had taken over an army compound in the coastal area Jableh after the toppling of Bashar Al Assad, drove through the Alawite countryside area of Zama and killed four people, including an eighth grader, according to Mohammad Al Zuaiter, an Alawite civil figure who has been tracking sectarian killings.

“It was a drive-by shooting – their way of projecting power “ said Mr Al Zuaiter, who was a political prisoner for years during the rule of Bashar Al Assad and his father Hafez. Coastal areas comprise the heartland of the Alawites, the same sect as that former president Mr Al Assad.

A man walks past a banner during a demonstration against the visit of Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara in Paris and for justice in Syria, at Place de la Republique in Paris, France. Reuters

In the mixed city of Homs, residents reported the killing of two taxi drivers on Saturday after their cabs were stopped by unidentified gunmen. The two men were from Karm Sham Al Shams, an Alawite neighbourhood on the edge of Homs.

International calls to protect Syria's minorities intensified after two mass killings against Alawites and Druze communities in the past two months. Ethnic and religious minorities comprise about a quarter of the population in the Sunni majority country. Their members have been generally wary of an eventual imposition of Islamist rule under the new HTS order.

On Wednesday French President Emmanuel Macron told Mr Al Shara the new authorities must protect “all Syrians without exception. Mr Al Shara said the state is committed to persecute any perpetrators but that the incidents have to be first investigated.

Mr Zuaiter said although the coast has “somewhat stabilised”, Alawites are living in fear with continued killings, as well as abductions.

“The international attention may have helped lessen the killings but many [Alawites] are seeking to escape to Lebanon or to Europe,” he said, referring to the abduction of three Alawite men at the weekend in Astamu, a village north of Jableh.

Last month, more than 100 members of the Druze community were killed in Syria after a fake video of a Druze Sheikh being derogatory of the Prophet Mohammed surfaced, according to war monitor the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. On March 7 and 8, about 1,300 Alawite civilians were killed in connection with a military campaign by the government and allied militias to subdue the coastal area, which was met with ambushes.

The Alawites, who comprised 8 per cent to 10 per cent of Syria's 22 million population in 2010, were a major reservoir for regime troops, especially during the civil war. The Druze, who comprised 3 per cent, remained on the sidelines until the last 14 months of Mr Al Assad's rule when they mounted a protest movement demanding an end to the regime.