WebAdmin
Muhammad Amin
More than 1000 people have been killed in Syria’s coastal region, home of the Alawite sect that produced dictator Bashir al-Assad, after supporters of the former ruler ambushed government forces in coordinated attacks.
Security forces, backed by allied armed groups, responded with deadly raids in Latakia and Tartous. According to multiple media reports and testimonies, the violence spread into revenge killings.
Door-to-door murder
An eyewitness near the Datour neighbourhood of Latakia, who did not wish to give her real name, said that armed men went from house-to-house.
“My friend’s fiance from Baniyas was shot. They didn’t let anyone help him, so he died from the bleeding. They still haven’t been able to bury him,” the eyewitness told Middle East Eye.
“My aunt, in the village of Bustan al-Basha, all her neighbours were killed.”
The eyewitness said that the men, claiming to be from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), searched their home too. A total of 20 cars were taken from the neighbourhood.
However, she said that they were not HTS fighters, but “terrorist groups”.
“Anyone who tries to leave or looks suspicious gets killed.”
Some civilians managed to flee to Latakia’s Russian-run Hmeimim airbase, but armed groups were waiting for them at checkpoints.
“The first question asked at the checkpoints is whether we are Alawite,” said the eyewitness.
HTS bares its fangs
A defence ministry source told state news agency SANA “violent clashes” were taking place in the Tartous countryside’s Taanita village with “war criminals affiliated with the defunct Assad regime and armed remnants protecting them.”
A mass grave containing HTS security forces and police personnel who were ambushed by Syrian Arab Army (SAA) cells was found near the city of Qardaha on Sunday.
Later in the day, government forces indiscriminately shelled the towns of Hammam al-Wasel in the Baniyas countryside and the town of Beit al-Atiq in the Qadmous countryside, as well as areas near Tartous and Latakia. The HTS forces are also carrying out drone strikes.
Security forces of the new Syrian government carried out brutal massacres targeting civilians, mainly from the Alawite minority. Tens of thousands have been displaced, and the massacres are ongoing, sources said.
Unofficial estimates say the number of dead could be in the thousands.
Speaking at a mosque in Mazzeh in Damascus Sunday, Syria’s transitional President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that “what is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges.”
“Rest assured about Syria, this country has the characteristics for survival,” he added.
A reckoning in waiting
Heavy clashes erupted on Thursday after security forces entered villages near the coastal city of Jableh and were ambushed by SAA cells. The new government mobilized reinforcements across the coastal regions of Latakia and Tartous for a sweeping clampdown.
Members of extremist factions integrated into the HTS-led Ministry of Defense went door to door, killing civilians, including women and children. Many of the massacres were documented Israeli-style on video by the militants themselves.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings