Cairo, Mar. 7, (dpa/GNA) – Dozens of people belonging to a religious minority community in Syria have been executed amid clashes between supporters of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and the security forces of the new government, a monitoring group reported on Friday.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel-Rahman, said his UK-based monitor had documented the execution of at least 90 civilians from the Alawite sect, to which al-Assad belongs, by government forces in Syria’s coastal area.
“Massacres have been perpetrated against the Alawite sect,” Abdel-Rahman told dpa.
There was no immediate comment from the Syrian government.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who commanded an Islamist-led rebel alliance that toppled al-Assad in December, has pledged to respect human rights in the war-shattered country.
The fighting in the coastal province of Latakia, a stronghold of the Alawite sect, is the deadliest since al-Assad’s overthrow.
The violence erupted after a string of attacks and ambushes blamed on al-Assad’s armed supporters targeted forces of the transitional government on Thursday.
A field commander in the government forces stated that major confrontations began early Friday following the arrival of large military convoys in Latakia.
Anas Khattab, the head of Syria’s General Intelligence Service, wrote on X that “initial investigations showed former military and security leaders affiliated with the defunct regime are behind the planning of these crimes.”
Spokesman for the Defence Ministry Hassan Abdel-Ghani said the government troops had made swift progress on the ground and reimposed control in the areas where the attacks against security forces had taken place.
He warned that anyone who refuse to hand over arms to the state authorities will face a “firm and uncompromising response.”
Armed groups linked to the former regime remain active in several towns and villages in the mountainous coastal region.
The state-run Syrian News Agency SANA said in response to the escalating violence, authorities in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia have extended an ongoing curfew until Saturday morning.
A power outage on Friday hit most parts of the Latakia province due to sabotage attacks unleashed by al-Assad’s loyalists, according to SANA.
Syria’s new leadership has been endeavouring to re-establish security in the country ruined by civil war that broke out following a 2011 pro-democracy uprising against al-Assad’s rule.