“They are throwing bodies into the sea”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic details that may not be suitable for all readers.

Before last week, Abu Ali had already witnessed hundreds of killings of non-Sunni minorities in the town of Jableh, Syria, over the past few months. When the violence intensified on Thursday, there were hundreds in a day.

“A convoy armed with heavy weapons entered the main street in Jableh,” Abu Ali said on a three-way call with a translator. “They started shooting everything.” The line of military trucks stretched for miles, with each truck carrying a large number of soldiers, pickups, tanks, and heavy weapons.

“I saw, in the building across from me, on the stairs—four young people, civilians. They killed them and passed by,” Abu Ali said. He also heard the militants shouting in the streets. “The jihadists shouted, ‘We will behead you, pigs. We will behead you, pigs.’”

Now in hiding and fearing for his extended family, Abu Ali is just one witness to the bloodbath in Syria over the past five days. His traumatized young daughter refuses to sleep unless her parents constantly hold her. WORLD is not using his real name or the names of any sources on the ground in Syria to protect them from violent retaliation.

The Islamists who carried out the attacks posted videos on social media showing the killings of civilians in the northern coastal region of Syria. One video showed smiling, bearded men in military uniforms slitting the throat of an unarmed civilian, the militants shouting “Allahu Akbar—God is great” as he bled out on the sand. Another depicted the execution of an elderly, unarmed man. Yet another showed young men in paramilitary gear standing among the family they just slaughtered. Those videos represent a small fraction of the footage released by jihadist factions in Syria during the killing spree in the region of Latakia.

Since the ouster of President Bashar Assad in December, the head of the rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has led Syria. HTS is a Sunni Islamist group with past links to al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS). Its leader is Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Mohammad al-Jolani. He promised Monday to investigate who was responsible for the killings of civilians, but critics say his group instigated the violence against the Alawites, the sect to which Assad belongs, and other minorities.

Aaron Zelin, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, confirmed that some HTS forces took part in the massacres and should be held accountable. “The new government still bears responsibility for all killings carried out by groups under its formal command,” he wrote in an analysis on Monday.

Meanwhile, al-Sharaa still struggles to gain control of much of the country. Late on Monday, al-Sharaa’s government closed a deal with the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. The agreement will bring much of Syria, including all border crossings with Iraq and Turkey, as well as airports and oil fields in the northeast, under the government’s control. The Syrian Democratic Forces, currently controlling the northeast, will also be merged into the Syrian army, now under al-Sharaa’s command.

Free Burma Rangers (FBR) has a team on the ground in Syria working to photograph and document the names of the dead.

“They are targeting those who are not Sunnis in areas historically known for their loyalty to the former regime—Alawites, Murshidis—and there is even talk of attacks on Christians,” warned a team leader with FBR. “It was said last night that the mixed town of Safita, home to both Christians and Alawites, is under siege.”

Global media report that a large number of people—mostly civilians—died in the violence. Initial estimates put the death toll at 1,000 and later to 1,300. Eyewitnesses believe the real number could be much higher.

The FBR team leader said, according to eyewitnesses in the region, multiple factions participated in the massacre. “This happened with all the military, all the groups, all the troops, all the factions, and even civilians—hundreds of thousands of them. All of them carried out the same actions across a very, very large area,” the leader said. “It’s targeted specifically against the Alawites. They all knew about it and attacked along the coast.”

Emil, another eyewitness, told WORLD that in the days leading up to the attacks, religious authorities had been calling for jihad, urging people to “support the new Syrian army to clean the coastline from the old regime.”

“The call is coming from the holy leaders of Islam, from Sunni Islam, and it becomes something you just have to do. If the call is coming from the holy leaders of Islam, then it is an obligation,” Emil said. “You have to do it.”

The FBR team leader is also skeptical about the government’s official death toll. “They are throwing bodies into the sea to hide their crime,” he said. With entire families wiped out, it’s impossible to track exactly who is missing. Videos on X show the slaughter of families, including babies and toddlers, and hundreds of dead bodies lining village streets.

The attacks were not limited to Alawites. Militants also targeted Christians and Kurds, who fear violence against them will increase as HTS continues purging groups it considers heretical. Fearing for their lives, many Christians and Kurds have fled the area.

Like the Alawites, the Murshidis are a Muslim religious minority living primarily in Syria’s coastal region. FBR had information Monday that terrorists targeted Murshidi villages the previous night, killing 26 people.

A new video released by jihadists is further evidence of growing danger to minorities, despite al-Sharaa’s previous assurances. The FBR team leader translated the footage of an HTS member using violent metaphors to compare the killings of Alawites to the beginning of a meal. The speaker then concludes with a chilling threat, saying the meal will be “delicious.” The leader explained that local people interpret this message as a warning that the attacks, which began against the Alawites, will soon extend to other minorities.