As seen in the example below, if you select text starting from outside the element (from either end) and ending within, the "pointerleave" event is fired. There's a video that shows the issue over at https://github.com/w3c/pointerevents/issues/501 https://flems.io/#0=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
<rdar://problem/125125057>
What macOS/Safari version are you reproducing this? Was this working for you in a prior macOS version?
This is on MacOS 12.6.2 / Safari 15.6.1 (17613.3.9.1.16) and TP Release 150 (Safari 16.0, WebKit 17614.1.22.1.2) "Softwrare Update" is broken on that machine, updates are detected (MacOS 12.7.4/Safari 17.4) but somehow never applied, even when I reboot manually after asking to "Install now". So I'm stuck with those versions.
... and I don't know if it was ever working before.