Sara Salloum
Source: Al Mayadeen English
Efforts by officials sent by the authorities to reassure these displaced people have so far been unsuccessful.
The events began with a security campaign in the Da'tour neighborhood on the outskirts of Latakia on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 4 and 5, which left 10 people dead, including a mother and her infant child. The Syrian Ministry of Defense and Public Security then announced the launch of a "military operation" on the coast targeting "remnants of the regime," following what it described as an "ambush set up by armed groups affiliated with the former regime, targeting a security patrol."
Medium and heavy weapons were used in the campaign, and for the first time, helicopters were used to bomb the villages of al-Daliyah and Beit Ana in the Jableh countryside.
No sooner had "Black Friday" evening arrived than obituaries for the victims and appeals from families began to spread across social media.
Late on Friday night, March 7, the head of the transitional phase, Ahmad al-Sharaa, delivered a speech in which he congratulated the army and security forces for their commitment to protecting civilians and their swift response.
He emphasized that the security forces must not allow anyone to overreact and called on all forces deployed to the areas of conflict to comply with the orders of military commanders and immediately evacuate the sites to curb any violations.
Horrific testimonies!
Ola Musa, a dentist, lost her grandmother and paralyzed son.
Her father's four brothers, who owned only a small grocery store, were also killed, along with two of her cousins, both university students.
The fate of many of the missing remains unknown, all on one street in her village of Ain al-Arous in Qardaha.
Ola wondered if this was an attempt at forced displacement, saying, "In a horrific way, they force people to perform inhumane and animalistic acts, like howling before they are killed. Are we supposed to leave? Die? I lost my feelings. They burned our souls."
Opposition to the al-Assad regime did not help Abdul Latif Ali, a resident of Jableh, nor his two sons, the painter Majd and the dentist Bishr, whose wife, Baraa, recounted what happened:
"I want to tell the whole world about them. At 7:00 pm, there was a knock on the door. My father-in-law opened it and said, 'Welcome'. We just want stability to return to the Syrian coast. They asked him about his work and his sons. He said they were all civilians. They then asked him about his sect, and he said he was Alawite. Then they approached me, took my phone, and took our men outside. They shot my husband in the chest right in front of my eyes. I held his hand and said, 'My love, don't close your eyes. I'll look for a car to help you.' One of the gunmen answered, 'Shut up and go inside before I shoot you too. I ran inside with my little daughter, who was crying and screaming, clinging to me. I don't want you to die like my father. By this time, my mother-in-law had lost control. She ran out into the street, crying and screaming hysterically. They killed her husband and her two sons.' She spent hours calling the neighbors to help her bring the bodies into the house, but everyone was afraid."
An entire family, consisting of Dr. Bassam Sobh, his wife, Dr. Ruba Al-Sheikh, and her two sons, Dr. Haidara and his brother Ward, were killed in the city of Baniyas, in Tartus Governorate.
Hala Mansour, Dr. Ruba's niece, said, "We called my aunt this morning, and she told us that an armed group had come to search the house. They told them that Dr. Bassam had been one of the people who had worked for reconciliation in Baniyas over the past years and had made numerous calls to the district director in the two days prior to his death to try to calm things down. However, the gunmen opened fire inside the house and destroyed the family's car."
After several hours, all contact with the family was lost.
Hala was later able to reach a neighbor, who told her that another group had entered her aunt's house and opened fire on everyone in the house.
In a shocking video filmed by the killers themselves, 86-year-old Zarqa Sebahiya is seen standing next to the bodies of her two sons, Kinan and Suhail, and her grandson, Mohammed, while one of the gunmen mocked her.
Journalist Mayada Rayhan, the woman's daughter, recounted that an armed group stormed the family's home in the Qardaha countryside, blew up the locks with bombs, then looted its contents and forced the three young men out.
The gunmen asked them, "Are you Alawite or Sunni?" They then opened fire on them, despite their insistence that they were civilians and that two of them taught English at the university.
The killers refused even to allow the mother to bury them. The bodies remained dumped behind the house for four days, under Zarqa's guard, who, despite all the threats and abuse, did not leave the area, fearing that their bodies would be burned.
The armed groups didn't stop at the killing but later returned to mock the family's grief by visiting the house to tell jokes and seize the remaining property.
Displaced people refuse to leave Hmeimim base
While people on the Syrian coast are slowly recovering from their trauma, more than 12,000 people remain sheltering at Russia's Hmeimim airbase, escaping the killing and slaughter.
Russian military personnel are providing them with tents, food, and water through a field kitchen, as well as medical services.
Cargo planes began landing at the airport, carrying a wide range of supplies, including blankets, canned food, baby formula, and diapers.
The civilian section of the airport is housing approximately 9,000 displaced people. Due to the large number of displaced people, the Russian airport administration decided to open the military section to accommodate approximately 4,000 more displaced people.
Buses sent by local authorities in Latakia province to Hmeimim Airport to return displaced people leave empty every day.
Efforts by officials sent by the authorities to reassure these displaced people have so far been unsuccessful, especially since one of them had previously appeared in a video warning against filming violations and killings, saying, "Do whatever you want with them, but don't film."
For its part, the Syrian presidency acknowledged the occurrence of violations and ordered the formation of an investigative committee "to uncover the causes and circumstances that led to these events, investigate violations against civilians, and identify those responsible."
The committee's spokesman, Yasser Farhan, explained in a press conference that the committee is independent and impartial and has begun meeting with President Ahmed al-Sharaa. It will submit its report to the presidency and the judiciary within 30 days.
Farhan added, "Videos will be examined, and the committee will visit field sites. Work is currently underway to collect evidence, identify witnesses, and determine the sites to be visited. It will provide a media briefing approximately weekly."
He also confirmed that "a mechanism for communicating with the committee will be announced soon, with the committee committed to ensuring that no perpetrator evades punishment."
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