Surviving Syria’s sectarian violence

Tim Franks speaks to a British-Syrian Alawite who came under
attack, along with her family, during the sectarian violence on
Syria’s coast in March.


The Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam and its followers
make up around 10 per cent of Syria's population, which is
majority Sunni.


The recent violence came after fighters loyal to the country's
overthrown former president, Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite
himself, led deadly raids on the new government’s security
forces.


Those attacks resurrected deep-seated anger over Assad’s
repressive dictatorship, with Alawite civilians seen by some as
complicit in the crimes of his regime - and as part of the
insurgency that followed his fall.


The new Sunni Islamist-led government had called for support from
various military units and militia groups to respond to the
attacks on its security forces – which then escalated into a wave
of sectarian anger aimed at Alawite civilians.


Human rights groups estimate that around 900 civilians, mainly
Alawites, were killed by pro-government forces across Syria's
coastal region in early March.


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Presenter: Tim Franks Producer: Ben Cooper Editor: Richard
Fenton-Smith