Understanding the Syria situation: Around 750 civilians tragically lose their lives in brutal attacks

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Key Points

Syrian authorities are facing an insurgency by toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
The clashes marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus.
Residents said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings.

Two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar Assad has left more than 1000 people dead, in what a war monitoring group describes as “one of the biggest massacres” of the Syrian conflict.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in addition to 745 civilians, mostly killed in massacres, 125 government security force members and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Assad were killed. It added that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the coastal city of Latakia.

The clashes, which erupted on Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took authority after removing Assad from power.

The government said its troops were responding to attacks from remnants of Assad’s forces and blamed “individual actions” for the rampant violence.

The revenge killings that started on Friday by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect are a major blow to HTS, the faction that led the overthrow of the former government. Alawites made up a large part of Assad’s support base for decades.

Civilians shot in the streets

Residents of Alawite villages and towns spoke to the Associated Press about the killings during which gunmen shot Alawites, the majority of them men, in the streets or at the gates of their homes.

Homes of Alawites were looted and then set on fire in different areas, two residents of Syria’s coastal region told the AP.

Residents of Baniyas, one of the towns worst hit by the violence, said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them.

Gunmen prevented residents for hours from removing the bodies of five of their neighbours killed on Friday at close range, one resident said.

‘Revenge killings’ of Alawites

Ali Sheha, a 57-year-old resident of Baniyas, says he fled with his family and neighbours hours after the violence broke out Friday.

He said at least 20 of his neighbours and colleagues were killed in one neighbourhood of Baniyas where Alawites lived, some in their shops or their homes.

Sheha called the attacks “revenge killings” of the Alawite minority for the crimes committed by Assad’s government. Other residents said the gunmen included foreign fighters, and militants from neighbouring villages and towns.

“It was very, very bad. Bodies were on the streets,” Sheha said, speaking by phone from nearly 20km away from the city.

He said the gunmen were gathering less than 100 metres from his apartment building, firing randomly at homes and residents.

He said the gunmen asked residents for their IDs to check their religion and their sect before killing them.

Gunmen also burned homes, stole cars and robbed homes.

The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said that revenge killings stopped early on Saturday.

“This was one of the biggest massacres during the Syrian conflict,” Abdurrahman said about the killings of Alawite civilians.

The previous figure given by the group was more than 200 dead. No official figures have been released.

Syria’s state news agency quoted a Defence Ministry official as saying that government forces had regained control of much of the areas from Assad loyalists and authorities had closed all roads leading to the coastal region “to prevent violations and gradually restore stability”.

Syrians fleeing to Lebanon

Lebanese legislator Haidar Nasser, who holds one of the two seats allocated to the Alawite sect in parliament, said that people were fleeing from Syria for safety in Lebanon.

Nasser said that many people were sheltering at the Russian air base in Hmeimim, Syria, adding that the international community should protect Alawites who are Syrian citizens loyal to their country.

He said that since Assad’s fall, many Alawites were fired from their jobs and some former soldiers who reconciled with the new authorities were killed.

Under Assad, Alawites held top posts in the army and security agencies. The new government has blamed his loyalists for attacks against the country’s new security forces over the past several weeks.