“Damascus is my maskan, my residence, but Latakia is my ma’man.” Ma’man translates roughly to “home” but derives from a root meaning “security.” It means, more precisely, “the place where I am safe.” Khalil, a medical student born and raised in Mezze 86, is only in his 20s, but he repeats it, too. “I have friends, and everything is comfortable for me here,” he explained to me in May, “but something inside me still feels alienated.” For now, he chooses to remain in Damascus to finish his studies, but he keeps one eye trained on encroaching opposition forces and the other on the coast. “If it becomes dangerous for us Alawis, then we can’t stay here.”