BEIRUT: At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a recent wave of violence that gripped Syria’s Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said Wednesday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the civilians were killed in “executions by security forces and allied groups” after the violence broke out last week in the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority, to which toppled president Bashar al-Assad belongs.
The Britain-based Observatory added that even as the violence subsided, the toll was still rising as bodies continued to be discovered, many on farmland or in their homes.
The latest deaths were recorded in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, and in the neighbouring central province of Hama, it said.
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It accused the security forces and allied groups of participating in “field executions, forced displacement and burning of homes, with no legal deterrent”.
The violence began on Thursday when clashes broke out after gunmen loyal to Assad staged attacks on the new security forces.
At least 231 security personnel were killed in the ensuing fighting, according to an official toll. The Observatory said 250 pro-Assad fighters were also killed.
In a widely-circulated video verified by the Observatory, an elderly woman is seen alongside the bodies of two men believed to be her sons.
Two fighters appear in the background and a voice behind the camera can be heard shouting that they will “crush” all the Alawites. AFP could not independently verify the video.
The Observatory said the fighters belonged to the security forces and said the woman’s grandson was also killed in the attack on a village in Latakia.
It identified the woman as Zarqa Sebahiya, 86, and later spoke to her daughter, who told the Observatory that she had been guarding the bodies for four days in the hopes of burying them.
The UN Human Rights Office said it had documented “summary executions” that appeared “to have been carried out on a sectarian basis”.
Since Assad was ousted in December, many Alawites have lived in fear of reprisals for his brutal rule.
Interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) that toppled Assad, has vowed to prosecute those behind the “bloodshed of civilians”, and has set up a fact-finding committee.
The spokesman for the committee, Yasser al-Farhan, has said Syria is determined to “prevent unlawful revenge and guarantee that there is no impunity”.
The authorities have also announced the arrest of at least seven people since Monday on suspicion of “violations” against civilians.
HTS, an offshoot of the former Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, is still proscribed as a terrorist organisation by several governments including the United States.
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