Syrian security forces monitored armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says

One of the men accused of taking part in a wave of sectarian violence against Syria's Alawite minority two months ago has told the BBC that he and other armed civilians who travelled to the area were advised and monitored by government forces there.

Abu Khalid said he had travelled as a civilian fighter to the Mediterranean coastal village of Sanobar on 7 March, to help battle former regime insurgents.

"The General Security department told us not to harm civilians, but only to shoot at insurgents who shot at us," he told me.

"There were eight men with me, but it was a large group, and the General Security department was overseeing things so that no-one would vandalise the village or harm the residents."

He later filmed himself shooting dead a 64-year-old village resident, Mahmoud Yusef Mohammed, at the entrance to his house.

Abu Khalid, who has now been arrested, insisted Mahmoud was an armed insurgent - but video he filmed of the incident does not his .

Military police told the BBC there had been no coordination between security forces and Abu Khalid.

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

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

Syria's coastal area - a stronghold of the former regime - has been largely sealed off, but a BBC team gained access, speaking to witnesses and security officials about what happened in Sanobar.

The violence came a day after fighters loyal to the country's overthrown former President Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite, led deadly raids on government security forces.

The new Sunni Islamist-led government had called for from various military units and militia groups to respond to those raids – but that escalated into a wave of sectarian anger aimed at Alawite civilians.

Witnesses told the BBC that several different armed groups had targeted Alawites for summary executions. Some also said that government security forces had battled violent and extremist factions to protect Alawite villagers from attack.

When the violence along this coast erupted, the village of Sanobar was right in its path. Some 200 people were wiped out from this small Alawite village, over the course of a few days in early March.

Almost two months after the killings, there have been no funerals in Sanobar.

A mass grave now squats beside the winding village road. Hurried burials have cleared the remaining corpses.

This is now a village of women and secrets. Most survivors are still too scared to speak openly but their stories, shared with us privately, are often strikingly similar.

The body of Mahmoud Yousef Mohammed lay outside his simple breeze-block house in Sanobar for three days after he was shot dead.

His wife, daughter and grandchildren, sheltering in a neighbour's house, were too afraid to emerge from hiding and bury him, as armed groups roamed the village.

His family said Mahmoud was a polite man, known and respected in the village; a farmer with a military background, who sometimes worked as a minibus driver.

His house, on a quiet street at the edge of the village, stands less than 300m (985ft) from the main highway where, on 6 March, army officers from Syria's former regime led co-ordinated attacks on the country's new security forces.

For two days, government forces battled former regime fighters, known locally as "filoul" ("remnants"), in the villages along this coastal highway, calling for from allied militia groups who helped push Bashar al-Assad from power last year.

An array of armed ers responded to the call, including foreign jihadist fighters, civilians and armed units now nominally part of the new Syrian army, but still not fully under government control. All are groups now accused by survivors of civilian executions.

All day on 7 March, Sanobar residents listened to the sounds of intense fighting around the village, as families hid in their houses.

Then the targeting of civilians began.

"All day, many groups entered our house," one survivor from Sanobar told me. "They weren't from the [military] groups based here, but from Idlib, Aleppo and elsewhere. Some wore camouflage uniforms. But the ones who killed us were wearing green uniforms with a mask."

"They stole everything, insulted us, threatened the children," she continued. "The last group came around 6pm. They asked, 'Where are the men":[]}