Near midnight on March 6, amidst a wave of sectarian killings shaking western Syria, masked men stormed homes belonging to Alawite families in the capital, Damascus, and detained more than twenty unarmed men, according to about twelve witnesses who spoke to Reuters.

The arrests in the Qadam neighborhood included a retired teacher, an engineering student, and a mechanic—all members of the Alawite sect to which ousted Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad belongs.

Witnesses reported that these raids occurred just hours after a group of Alawites loyal to Assad declared an armed rebellion in coastal areas approximately 320 kilometers northwest of Damascus, sparking a wave of retaliatory killings that claimed the lives of hundreds of Alawites.

Transitional Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa told Reuters that he sent forces to the coast the following day to halt the violence but acknowledged that some fighters who poured into the area to suppress the rebellion acted without authorization from the Ministry of Defense.