More than 1,000 people have been killed in two days of horrific clashes and revenge killings between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad, according to a war monitoring group. Islamist insurgents seized power in the country three months ago after forcibly removing dictator Assad from power. The past week has seen a dramatic escalation in conflict between the new Government and remaining Assad supporters, with around 745 civilians massacred in just 48 hours, according to the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights.
At least 125 members of the Damascus Government’s security forces were also killed, alongside 148 militants associated with the ousted regime. The insurgent Government has blamed « individual actions » for instigating the violence and suggested that it had responded to attacks from the remnants of Assad’s support base. Electricity and drinking water were cut off near the port city of Latakia on Thursday, and government-associated gunmen launched a spate of revenge killings against members of the Arab Alawites group, part of Assad’s support base, on Friday.
Armed Sunni Muslim men looted Alawite towns and villages, shot men in the streets and set houses on fire, residents told the Associated Press, forcing thousands to flee to Syria’s mountain regions for safety.
Civilians who had fled the town of Baniyas told the news agency that gunmen had left bodies strewn on the streets or unburied inside homes and on the roofs of buildings. Ali Sheha, 57, said that at least 20 of his neighbours and colleagues had been killed in the « revenge » attack, which he suggested was launched in retaliation to the crimes committed by Assad’s Government.
« They forcibly brought people down to the streets, then they lined them up and started shooting them, » another Baniyas resident told Sky News. « They left nobody. They left nobody at all. The scene that I saw was pure horror; it’s just indescribable. » They also recounted how women were forced to « walk naked » before being gunned down by their attackers.
Rami Abdurrahman, chief of the Observatory for Human Rights, said the onslaught had ceased early on Saturday. He described the attacks as « one of the biggest massacres during the Syrian conflict ».
A Syrian Defence Ministry source was quoted in the country’s state news agency as saying Government forces had regained control of multiple areas from Assad loyalists. They also reportedly closed all roads leading to the coastal regions to « prevent violations and gradually restore stability ».
The bodies of nine women, four children and 18 others were laid to rest in a mass grave in the village of Tuwaym on Saturday morning, according to residents.
Lebanese legislator Haidar Nasser said Syrians had fled across the border to Lebanon after the violence began and called on the international community to protect Alawites, who he described as loyal citizens of their country.
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