Kathmandu. The death toll from two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and subsequent reprisal killings has surpassed 1,000, a war monitoring group said on Saturday.
It is the deadliest bout of violence in Syria since the conflict began 14 years ago. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 745 civilians had been killed. Of those, 125 were members of government security forces and 148 were fighters from armed groups linked to Assad.
The Observatory said electricity and water supplies were cut off in large areas around the city of Latakia. The clashes, which broke out on Thursday three months after rebels took power after Assad was ousted, pose a major challenge to the new government in Damascus. The government said it was responding to attacks by remnants of Assad’s forces and blamed “personal acts” for the widespread violence. Sunni, Alawite Revenge Killings The retaliatory killings launched by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect on Friday are a major blow to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that led the collapse of the former government.
The Alawites have made up a large part of Assad’s support base for decades. Residents of Alawite villages and towns who spoke to The Associated Press about the killings said gunmen shot Alawites, mostly men, in the streets or at the gates of their homes. Two residents of Syria’s coastal region told the AP that several Alawite homes in different areas had been looted and then set on fire. They asked not to be named for fear of being killed by the gunmen.
They added that thousands of people had fled to nearby mountains for safety. Residents of the town of Baniyas, one of the worst-hit by the violence, said bodies were left lying in the streets or piled on the roofs of houses and buildings, with no one to collect them. According to one resident, gunmen had stopped residents for hours from removing the bodies of five of their neighbors who were killed nearby on Friday.
Ali Sheha, a 57-year-old resident of Baniyas, who fled with his family and neighbors hours after the violence erupted on Friday, said at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues were killed in an area of Baniyas inhabited by Alawites, some of them in their own shops or homes. Sheha called the attacks “revenge killings” of the Alawite minority for crimes committed by the Assad government. Other residents said the gunmen included foreign fighters and militants from neighboring villages and towns. “It was very bad. There were bodies in the streets,” Sheha said by phone from about 20 kilometers (12 miles) outside the city.
He said the gunmen had gathered less than 100 meters (320 feet) from his apartment building. In at least one incident, he knew of, they were asking residents for their ID cards to verify their religion and sect, then killing them. He said the gunmen had set fire to some homes and stolen cars and looted homes. The Observatory, which has seen a rising death toll, said the retaliatory killings had stopped early Saturday.
“This was one of the biggest massacres of the Syrian conflict,” Abdurrahman said of the killing of Alawite civilians. The group had previously put the death toll at more than 600. No official figure has been released. Funerals were held in the northwestern village of al-Janaudiya on Saturday afternoon for four members of the Syrian security forces killed in clashes on the Syrian coast.
Many people attended the funeral. The Syrian army has regained control, according to official reports. The Syrian state news agency, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official, said government forces had retaken several areas from Assad loyalists. Authorities have closed all roads leading to the coastal area to “prevent violations and gradually restore stability.” Residents said the bodies of 31 people killed in a retaliatory attack the previous day were buried in a mass grave in the central village of Tuwaym on Saturday morning.
The dead included nine children and four women. Lebanese lawmaker Haider Nasser, who holds one of the two seats reserved for the Alawite sect in parliament, said people were fleeing Syria to Lebanon for safety. He said he did not have an exact number. Many were taking refuge at the Russian air base in Hmeimim, Syria, according to Nasser. He said the international community must protect Syrian Alawites, who are loyal to their country.
He said many Alawites were dismissed from their jobs after Assad fell and some former soldiers who had reconciled with the new authorities were killed. Alawites held high positions in the army and security agencies under Assad. The new government has blamed his supporters for attacks against the country’s new security forces in recent weeks. France has expressed “deep concern” over the recent violence in Syria.
The Paris foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that it “strongly condemns the atrocities committed against civilians and prisoners on religious grounds.” France has urged the Syrian interim authorities to ensure an independent investigation that “will shed full light on these crimes.” The Observatory said the recent clashes began when government forces tried to detain a wanted man near the coastal city of Jableh and were attacked by Assad loyalists.
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