Thousands queue to flee Syria as ethnic minorities fear post-Assad future

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Thousands of Syrians are stranded on the Masnaa border crossing with Lebanon, looking to flee the country in fear for their futures after Islamist rebel groups ousted Bashar al-Assad’s brutal regime. open image in gallery Syrians wait on the road to cross into Lebanon near the Masnaa crossing border, as seen from east Lebanon In a UNHCR update, the organisation said it is “aware of thousands of Syrians fleeing Syria into Lebanon” and that “hundreds of thousands” of Syrians are “fleeing for their lives inside the country”. The Assad family has long relied on the Alawites, who have filled many senior positions in the regime, since they came to power in 1970. open image in gallery On the other side of the border is a more jubilant queue, as people prepare to cross the border from Lebanon back into Syria Many reports suggested that they were disproportionately targeted for conscription by the Assad regime in earlier years of the war, with conflicting estimates all agreeing that at least tens of thousands of Alawites have been killed in the conflict. Christians in Syria, one of the oldest communities of Christians in the world and concentrated in similar areas to the Alawites, are also living in fear of an “uncertain and perilous future”, according to the president of human rights group International Christian Concern, Jeff King.