After two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad and the revenge killings that followed, more than 1,000 people have died. According to The Associated Press (AP) report, a war monitoring group on Saturday said that it was one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria’s conflict began 14 years ago.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights recorded that, in addition to 745 civilians—mostly killed in close-range shootings—125 government security force members and 148 militants from armed groups affiliated with Assad were also killed. It further said that electricity and the water supply were cut off around Latakia city.
This marked a major escalation and challenge for the new government in Damascus. It comes three months after the insurgents took authority after Assad was removed from power. The government claimed it was responding to attacks from remnants of Assad’s forces and attributed the widespread violence to “individual actions.”
When revenge killing began
On Friday, the revenge killings began by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect are a major blow to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that led the overthrow of the former government had a significant role in the power shift. Alawites, who comprised a large part of Assad’s support base for decades, were deeply intertwined in the country’s political landscape.
Residents of Alawite villages and towns AP about killings in which gunmen shot Alawites—mostly men—either who were on the streets or at the entrances of their homes.
Two residents from Syria’s coastal region, many Alawite homes were looted and then set on fire in various areas. Thousands of people have fled to nearby mountains for safety.
Atrocities in the town
Residents of Baniyas, which was one of the worst hit with violence, said bodies were found strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them. One said that the gunmen stopped the residents for hours from removing the bodies of several neighbours who were killed on Friday.
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Syrian forces regain control
Syria’s state news agency quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry official stating that government forces have regained control of much of the territory from Assad loyalists. The report also mentioned that authorities have closed all roads leading to the coastal region “to prevent violations and gradually restore stability.”
On Saturday morning, residents laid to rest the bodies of 31 people killed in revenge attacks the previous day in the central village of Tuwaym. Among the victims were nine children and four women, according to residents who also shared photos with the AP showing the bodies, draped in white cloth, lined up in a mass grave.
