Tension rises in Syria's coastal areas after Alawite protests demanding protection

Gunmen drive into Alawite districts as Interior Minister signals sect's fears have been heard

Protests erupted in Syria's Alawite heartland this week after attacks on the minority. Reuters

Pro-government gunmen have mounted incursions into Alawite coastal areas of Syria, residents said on Thursday, after a new bout of violence against the sect.

Armed men on motorcycles and in cars drove into Alawite districts in the Mediterranean cities of Tartous, Latakia, Baniyas and Jableh during the past 48 hours, shouting slogans and firing in the air, amid a heavier than usual presence of security forces in some areas.

A resident of Baniyas, home to one of Syria's two oil refineries, said that overnight a convoy of cars entered the mostly Alawite neighbourhoods of Qusour and Murooj, with men shouting “sectarian slogans and firing guns at balconies”.

Protests in Syria after attacks on Alawites

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“The message is obvious: stop protesting or we will finish you off,” added the resident.

The fate of the Alawites, the minority sect whose members underpinned the Assad regime, came under the spotlight again after Sunni Bedouin set fire to homes in the central city of Homs on Sunday. The rampage was prompted by the murder of a husband and wife from a prominent tribe, although authorities said the murder did not appear to be sectarian.

The attack prompted thousands of Alawites, particularly on the coast, to stage protests demanding protection. In March, at least 1,300 Alawite civilians were killed during a government campaign to stop what it described as an insurgency by remnants of the former regime in the coastal region.

Interior Minister Anas Khattab emphasised the need for “calm and stability … in the current circumstances”, after meeting security commanders in Latakia and Tartous. The “appropriate institutions” will be dealing with “all the demands and concerns” of the protesters, he added.

The protests were called by the Supreme Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, whose members have not been announced. Alawite sources said the group is controlled by a cleric known as Sheikh Ghazal Ghazal, who was close to former president Bashar Al Assad and his late father, Hafez Al Assad. Sheikh Ghazal fled Syria to an unknown destination after the fall of the Assad regime.

Mr Khattab is one of the closest confidants of Syrian President Ahmad Al Shara, having helped him set up Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS), the former Al Qaeda affiliate that ousted the Assad regime, nearly a decade ago.

HTS is seeking to transform from a militant group to leading a government pivotal to regional stability. However, several mass killings of Alawites, as well as members of the Druze community in provincial Syria, have occurred since the removal of the former regime.

An Alawite businessman in Latakia said the latest incursions have not been provoked by the government, but “at the same time it is not doing enough to stop them”.

Ziad Al Mashi, a shop owner in Jableh, said gunmen from the countryside have been coming into the city on the two nights since the Alawite protests started on Tuesday. The city has one of the largest urban concentrations of Alawites in Syria. “They come late at night,” Mr Al Mashi said.