Photo credit: the Guardian
Over 1,000 people, including 745 civilians, were killed in the two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and fighters loyal to the former Assad regime.
The Guardian reports that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights based in the UK said 745 civilians were killed mostly execution-style. 125 Syrian security forces and 148 Assad loyalists were also killed.
Death tolls from the two days of fighting have varied wildly, with some sympathisers putting the final death toll even higher.
Fighting began on Thursday after fighters loyal to the ousted Assad regime ambushed security forces in Jableh. The assault was the biggest challenge to the country’s Islamist authorities so far. To crush the rebellion, the government called for reinforcements. Thousands of fighters assembled on Syria’s coast from all over the country. Though fighters are nominally under the auspices of the new Syrian government, militias persist, some of which have been implicated in past human rights abuses and are relatively undisciplined.
The Syrian government has insisted that “individual actions” led to the killing of civilians and said the massive influx of fighters on the coast led to human rights violations. The President Ahmad al-Sharaa said: “Anyone who harms civilians will face severe punishment.”
Videos showed dozens of people in civilian clothes piled up, dead in the town of Mukhtariya, where more than 40 people were killed at one time, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights. Other videos showed fighters wearing security uniforms executing people point blank and dehumanizing others. But The Guardian was not able to verify the videos.
The Syrian coast is heavily populated by the minority Islamic Alawite sect, from which the deposed president hailed. However, most of the people were not associated with the Assad regime.
Although Syria’s new authorities had promised Alawites they would be safe under their rule, their present situation in which several of them have been killed has sent waves of fear through the community.
The UN envoy for Syria, Gier Pederson, urged civilians to be protected on Friday. France has condemned what they said was violence targeting “civilians because of their faith.”
Rights groups said that a real commitment to transitional justice and an inclusive government was key to preventing Syria from spiralling into a cycle of violence.
