Almost 750 civilians were killed, mostly in close-range shootings, war monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated.
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The death toll from days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted longtime President Bashar al-Assad, and revenge killings that followed, has risen to more than 1,000 on Saturday.
That makes it one of the country’s deadliest acts of violence in over a decade, according to UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitoring group.
The group said that in addition to the almost 750 civilians killed, mostly in close-range shootings, 125 government security forces and close to 150 militants with armed groups affiliated with al-Assad were killed.
The war monitor also added that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the western coastal city of Latakia.
Clashes which erupted on Thursday marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after the sudden removal of al-Assad from power.
In a joint statement the Christian Patriarchs of Syria said: "Syria has witnessed a dangerous escalation of violence, brutality and killings, resulting in attacks on innocent civilians, including women and children."
Al-Assad was overthrown after the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group staged a surprise offensive in early December, toppling his government after a 24-year tenure and more than five decades of the al-Assad family rule.
The government has said that they were responding to attacks from remnants of al-Assad’s forces and blamed “individual actions” for the rampant violence.
Revenge killings that started on Friday by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of al-Assad’s minority Alawite ethnic group are a major blow to the HTS. Alawites made up a large part of al-Assad’s support base for decades.
Residents of Alawite villages and towns reported that gunmen opened fire at Alawites in the streets or at the gates of their homes. Many Alawite homes were also reportedly looted and then set on fire in different areas.
Baniyas was one of the towns worst hit by the violence. Residents there say bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, with nobody able to collect them.
One resident told AP that gunmen prevented residents from removing the bodies of five of their neighbours killed on Friday for hours.
Residents also added that attacks on Baniyas were indiscriminate and only aimed to seek revenge on the Alawite minority for the atrocities committed by the al-Assad regime.
“It was very, very bad. Bodies were on the streets,” said Ali Sheha, a 57-year-old resident of Baniyas as he was fleeing. He added that gunmen were set up less than 100 metres from his apartment building, firing randomly at homes and residents.
He also noted that in one incident, gunmen reportedly asked residents for their identity cards to check their religion and confirm their Alawite sect before killing them.
The shocking incident has triggered reactions and concern from Western officials. Germany’s Special Envoy for Syria Stefan Schneck took to X condemning the violence.
“I am deeply shocked by the many victims in western Syria and call on all to seek peaceful solutions, national unity, inclusive political dialogue and transitional justice. We must break out of the cycle of violence and hatred. Germany is ready to help wherever we can.”
The European Union’s chargé d’affaires to Syria, Michael Ohnmacht, also commented on the unfolding tragic incident, echoing the same rhetoric as his German counterpart. He also called for an end to the violence and for all parties to “exercise restraint” and “respect the right of all components of the Syrian people” to live in safety and peace.
France expressed “its deep concern” over recent violence in Syria. Paris “condemns in the strongest possible terms atrocities committed against civilians on the basis of religion grounds and against prisoners,” its foreign ministry said in a statement Saturday.
France urged Syrian interim authorities to make sure independent investigations “shed full light on these crimes.”