Minutes to leave: Syria's Alawites evicted from private homes at gunpoint

FILE PHOTO: A family member waits for workers to move his family's belongings, following evacuation orders from factions of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), after Syria's Bashar al-Assad was ousted, on the outskirts of Damascus, in Syria, December 29, 2024. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Early one evening in late January, 12 masked men stormed the Damascus home of Um Hassan's family, pointed AK-47 assault rifles in their faces and ordered them to leave.

When they presented ownership documents, the men arrested Um Hassan's oldest brother and said they could only have him back once they had moved out. The family surrendered the house 24 hours later and picked him up, battered and bruised, from the local General Security Service headquarters, said Um Hassan, giving only her nickname for fear of reprisals.