Syrians trickle home from sanctuary at Russian air base

By Khalil Ashawi and Mahmoud Hasano

HMEIMIM, Syria (Reuters) - Some of the Syrians who sought sanctuary at a Russian air base from sectarian killings are trickling home to devastated villages. Many others remain inside, fearing for their lives.

Thousands of people have been sheltering at the Hmeimin air base since violence swept Syria's coastal region last week, when predominantly Alawite towns and villages were targeted in attacks and hundreds were killed.

Rana Boushieh, 34, said she headed for the base with her family after fleeing her home in the Alawite village of al-Sanobar. They had been awoken by gunfire, she said, and first fled to another area of the village before escaping with other residents to Hmeimin, 11 km (seven miles) away.

She returned to Sanobar on Thursday, encouraged by her brother who told her the situation was calm and with an escort from government security forces. Others were scared to leave.

"Honestly, there is definitely fear, but God willing, things will get better, God willing," she said.

The violence spiralled last week after Syria's Sunni Islamist-led authorities said their security forces came under attack by militants loyal to the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, whose Alawite family come from the coastal region.

The attack unleashed widespread killings targeting Alawites - the worst bloodshed since Assad was toppled in December after 14 years of war. Interim President Ahmed Sharaa, an al Qaeda leader before he cut ties to the group in 2016, has said those responsible will be punished, including his own allies if necessary.

Some Alawites fled to neighbouring Lebanon.

In the Syrian coastal region, Reuters journalists saw many homes and shops torched and looted, and villages largely deserted, during a visit to the area on Thursday, on which they were accompanied by government security personnel.

One man, who had just returned to Sanobar, took the journalists to a house where he said he had found the bodies of his brother and nephew. He declined to be named out of fear for his safety.

The name of a Sunni Arab armed group aligned with the government had been written in graffiti on walls in several places.

"You brought this upon yourselves," declared one slogan.

CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL PROTECTION

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that about 9,000 people were seeking refuge at Hmeimim, established as a Russian air base in 2015 when Moscow entered the Syrian war on Assad's side.

Russia is trying to build relations with the new Syrian leadership and the futures of the Hmeimim base and Russia's naval base at Tartous remain unclear.

Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a government security official, said 1,500 people were sheltering at the air base, which he had visited "in coordination with our Russian friends".

Echoing other statements by the authorities on the violence, he said government security forces had been attacked by remnants of the Assad authorities and that after this, "unruly groups and gangs entered the area and began carrying out acts of sabotage", forcing residents to seek refuge at the air base.

"We are currently working to secure the area from remnants of the former regime and vandalizing gangs in order to ensure the families' safe departure to their homes and villages," he said.

Government security forces were heavily deployed outside the base as a Russian warplane flew overhead. One family left the base in the back of a flat-back truck.

Falak Issa, 60, was leaving the air base to return to her village, al-Qalaya. She urged international intervention to protect the people and the Alawite community.

"What happened is all kinds of shells, bombs, machine guns that you can think of, all kinds of weapons. We were terrified, truly terrified in every sense of the word," she said.

(Writing by Tom Perry, Editing by Timothy Heritage)