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