MASAOUDIYEH, Lebanon — Descending the steep hill leading down to the river, Taim Soleiman (pseudonym) paused as his family continued ahead. He gazed back at the verdant agricultural lands of Syria and wiped tears from his eyes. 

On Lebanon’s northern border, thousands of Alawites are fleeing from their homes in Syria’s coastal region, many with no plans to return. At the al-Kabir River crossing, where a bombed Lebanese checkpoint stands, refugees — including young children and the elderly — were met by locals ferrying them to safety on motorcycles and tractors. 

The Syrian government has blamed recent inter-ethnic clashes on "Assad remnants," but rights groups allege that security forces loyal to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa carried out mass killings in Alawite communities. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said that the number of deaths stands at 2,089, including 273 state forces, 259 Alawite gunmen and 1,557 civilians — a majority of whom are Alawites and "mostly executed over sectarian affiliation."

The Alawites, a minority sect within Shiite Islam, constitutes roughly 10% to 15% of Syria’s population at around 2 million to 3 million people. They predominantly reside in the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus and also inhabit parts of Homs and Damascus. Historically marginalized under Ottoman rule, the Alawites rose to prominence in modern Syria thanks to disproportionate representation in the military and government under the Assad regime. The Assad family belong to the Alawite sect. Association with Assad’s rule since 1971 has left them particularly vulnerable in the post-regime era.