For two days, Rihab Kamel and her family hid terrified in their bathroom in the city of Baniyas as armed men stormed the neighbourhood, pursuing members of Syria's Alawite minority.

The coastal city is part of Syria's Alawite heartland that has been gripped by the fiercest violence since former president Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December.

"We turned off the lights and hid. When we were able to flee our neighbourhood of Al-Qusour, we found the roads full of corpses," Kamel, a 35-year-old mother, told AFP.

A Christian family sheltered them and then helped them reach the frontier with Lebanon, she said, adding that they planned to flee across the border.

"What crime did the children commit? Are they also supporters of the (toppled) regime?" she said. "We as Alawites are innocent."

The violence erupted on Thursday after gunmen loyal to Assad attacked Syria's new security forces. The ensuing clashes resulted in dozens of deaths on both sides.

War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later reported that security forces and allied........

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