Alawites flee Damascus neighborhood in face of death threats

Dozens of families have fled a historically Alawite neighborhood of Damascus under threat of death, amid fears for the community's future in the Syrian capital under Islamist rule, residents told AFP.

The mass killing of hundreds of civilians in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast in March stoked fears of retribution for the privileged position the community enjoyed under the rule of ousted president Bashar al-Assad, who is himself Alawite.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said gunmen who stormed the Al-Sumaria neighborhood of west Damascus on Thursday had threatened Alawite residents with the loss of all their possessions if they did not leave the neighborhood voluntarily within two days.

"Armed men, some masked and others dressed entirely in black, resembling the uniforms of the (security forces), are passing by and asking us to leave our homes or they will kill us," said a 20-year-old journalism student who asked to remain anonymous.

"We have gathered what personal belongings we can and will leave our home today, not knowing where to go," she said.

The Britain-based Observatory said evictions were already underway, "accompanied by violence and intimidation, including the use of electric batons to force residents out".

Since Assad's overthrow by Islamist-led rebels in December, several Alawite-majority neighborhoods outside the community's coastal heartland have witnessed similar evictions at gunpoint.

Al-Sumaria mayor Mazhar Shoeir insisted that the situation was now under control with a panel set up to address any violations.

"I assure residents that the situation has stabilized and they should stay in their homes and not leave them," Shoeir told AFP.

He said a committee was "closely monitoring any violations, and people will notice the difference in the coming hours".

But few residents gave much credence to the reassurances from the authorities.

"The threats are stronger than the assurances. We see the threats on the ground, while we only see the assurances on social media," said a resident who gave his name only as Youssef.

The 39-year, who already lost his civil service job in the months after Assad's ouster, said he was "extremely afraid".

"There's no room for gambling with our lives. I have children and I fear for their lives," he said, as he left with his family for the mainly Alawite town of Maryamin, in Homs province close to the coastal heartland.