More than 340 civilians killed by Syrian government-linked gunmen, Syrian observatory says

Gunmen and security forces linked to Syria’s new Islamist rulers have killed more than 340 people, including women and children from the Alawite minority, in the country’s coastal region since Thursday, the head of a leading war monitor said.

Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the widespread killings in Jableh, Baniyas and surrounding areas in Syria’s Alawite heartland amounted to the worst violence for years in a 13-year-old civil conflict.

The new ruling authority has launched a crackdown on what it said was a nascent insurgency by militants linked to former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government.

Several dozen members of the security forces have been killed in heavy clashes with militants, a Syrian security official said.

Syrian officials have acknowledged “violations” during the operation, which they have blamed on unorganized masses of civilians and fighters who sought to support official security forces or commit crimes amid the chaos of the fighting.

But the reported scale of the violence, which includes reports of an execution-style killing of dozens of Alawite men in one village, puts into further question the Islamist ruling authority’s ability to govern in an inclusive manner, an important concern for other countries.

Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Sharaa, while backing the crackdown in a televised address late on Friday, said security forces should not allow anyone to “exaggerate in their response… because what differentiates us from our enemy is our commitment to our values.”

“When we give up on our morals, us and our enemy end up on the same side,” he said, adding civilians and captives should not be mistreated.

FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN MOURNING

Syrian Facebook on Saturday was heavy with images and obituaries of people from the coastal area being mourned by family and friends who said they had been killed.

Abdulrahman, a leading critical voice against the Assad-led authorities who documented its alleged killings for more than a decade, said: “This is not about being pro or against the former Assad regime. These are sectarian massacres that aim to expel the Alawite population from their homes.”

Syria’s defence ministry and internal security agency said on Saturday they were trying to restore calm and order and prevent any violations against civilians in the coastal region.

Six inhabitants of the coastal region said thousands of Alawite and Christian inhabitants had fled their homes since Thursday, fearing for their lives.

Several hundred, mostly women and children and elders, sought refuge at a Russian Mediterranean military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to footage from the scene and two people familiar with the matter.

Abdulrahman and four people in the coastal region who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their wellbeing said killings, looting and burning of homes had continued overnight in the coastal city of Baniyas and in surrounding villages.

Reuters could not independently verify the assertions.