From base to broken homes: Fear follows Syrian return

Shafaq News/ Some Syrian residents who had sought refuge at the Russian Hmeimim base in Latakia due to escalating violence have started returning to their villages, following reassurances from relatives about improving security, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Despite the return of some displaced residents, many remain hesitant to leave the base. Falak Issa, a 60-year-old woman, expressed her fear of the ongoing violence, calling for international protection for the Alawite community. “We were terrified, truly terrified in every sense of the word,” she told Reuters.

Reuters journalists who visited the region on Thursday reportedly observed numerous homes and shops that had been burned and looted, as well as semi-deserted villages. They also spoke with a man who had recently returned to Al-Sanoubar and discovered the bodies of his brother and nephew, though he chose to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova confirmed last Thursday that approximately 9,000 displaced individuals, mostly women and children, had taken shelter at the Hmeimim base after fleeing the violence.

The violence that erupted on March 6 involved clashes between security forces and remnants of former Bashar al-Assad regime factions in the Alawite-majority coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, and has been described as the most intense since the fall of al-Assad in December.

At least 1,383 civilians, predominantly from the Alawite sect, have been killed, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

In response, Syria’s transitional President, Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who described the events as a “threat to his mission” to unify the country, announced the formation of an independent national committee to investigate and document the incidents, with a report due to the presidency within 30 days.