“ANXIETY AND FEAR”
In some areas, residents started tentatively venturing out however many had been nonetheless afraid to depart house after darkish and complained of an absence of fundamental provides.
“As we speak the scenario in Latakia is a bit of calmer, persons are out and about after 5 days of hysteria and excessive worry,” mentioned Farah, a 22-year-old college pupil who gave solely her first identify.
However with the scenario nonetheless “very tense”, she mentioned that “after six o’clock, you don’t see anybody on the street … the neighbourhood turns right into a ghost city”.
Clashes broke out on Thursday after gunmen loyal to the deposed president attacked Syria’s new safety forces.
The following violence killed 231 safety personnel and 250 pro-Assad fighters killed, in accordance with the Britain-based Observatory which depends on a community of sources inside Syria.
The authorities didn’t present any casualty figures.
Along with the mass killings of Alawites, there have been studies of Christians being caught up within the wave of assaults.
Throughout a sermon in Damascus on Sunday, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X mentioned that “many harmless Christians had been additionally killed” alongside Alawites.
Obituaries had been shared on social media for a number of members of the small Christian group residing on the coast.
Sharaa’s group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which has its roots within the Syrian department of jihadist community Al-Qaeda, has vowed to guard Syria’s spiritual and ethnic minorities since toppling Assad.
HTS remains to be listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and different governments.
