Hundreds of Syrians killed in violence since pro-Assad militias clashed with security forces

Syria's President Ahmad Al Shara has called for militias linked to the ousted Assad regime to surrender immediately after two days of fighting in the western coastal region in which hundreds, including civilians, mostly from the Alawite minority, were reported to have been killed.

The fighting in the Latakia and Tartous provinces poses the most serious threat to Syria's new administration after rebels toppled former president Bashar Al Assad in December, ending more than 50 years of rule by his family. It also jeopardises hopes of a return to stability and the rehabilitation of Syria after nearly 14 years of civil war.

“You attacked all Syrians and made an unforgivable mistake. The riposte has come, and you have not been able to withstand it,” Mr Al Shara, the country's interim leader who headed the rebel coalition, said in a speech broadcast on Telegram by the Syrian presidency. “Lay down your weapons and surrender before it's too late.”

He said those loyal to Mr Al Assad were testing the new Syria that “they did not know”. He added: “Today, they are getting to know it again, and they see it as one unified Syria from east to west and from north to south, and if one of its provinces is touched by a thorn, all the provinces will rally to support it and its glory.”

Some fighters loyal to the Assad regime surrendered early on Saturday in the town of Jableh, south of Latakia, according to Syrian state TV.

Hundreds of civilian casualties

On Saturday the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), alleged that security forces and affiliated gunmen killed about 125 civilians during the two-day battle in the coastal region, the heartland of the Alawite minority to which the Assad family belongs.

The war monitor documented several operations by the defence and interior ministries in rural areas of Latakia, Tartous and Hama, including what it described as “house raids, direct targeting of civilians, and large-scale field executions of men and young adults over the age of 18, without any clear distinction between civilians and combatants”.

It reported the mass execution, in one operation, of more than 50 civilians, mostly from a medical family in the coastal town of Baniyas, saying they were systematically killed in their homes.

Several videos have emerged showing the mass killing of men of all ages. In one, dozens of bodies in civilian clothes lie on the ground as tearful women identify them. Other footage shows fighters in military uniforms riding on the backs of men in civilian clothes while mimicking the barking of dogs. The National could not verify these videos.

A Syrian security source quoted by the state news agency, Sana, said “individual violations” had been committed as a result of crowds heading to the coastal region on Thursday. “We are working to stop these violations,” the source said, without attributing responsibility for them.

The United Nations envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, decried “very troubling reports of civilian casualties” and called on all sides to refrain from actions which could “destabilise Syria, and jeopardise a credible and inclusive political transition”.

The fighting began on Thursday after remnants of the Assad regime planned an ambush against government forces in the coastal area. Government forces sent massive military reinforcements to quell the nascent insurgency, using helicopter gunships, drones, and artillery. A curfew was imposed in the Latakia province and neighbouring Tartous.

Widespread reports of reprisals against Alawite civilians following the clashes have sparked panic within the community across the country. “We are very afraid of what is happening, our families in Tartus and Latakia are not safe, no one is helping, anything can happen at any time now,” an Alawite resident in Damascus told The National.

“Many massacres were committed today against Alawite civilians on a sectarian basis and in a brutal manner. No one was spared – not young men, women, children, or the elderly. None of them had any connection to what happened,” another member of the Alawite community said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, another war monitor, put the death toll even higher, saying on Saturday that 300 civilians and more than 200 security personnel and militants had been killed in the fighting since Thursday. It later raised its estimate of the toll to 745 dead.

Security challenges for new leadership

Mr Al Shara also vowed to keep working towards “monopolising weapons in the hands of the state”. “There will be no more unregulated weapons,” he said. “Today in Syria, there is no difference between the authority and the people. Syria means everyone, and it is everyone’s mission to preserve and support it,” he said.

His government faces a huge security challenge as it seeks funds for rebuilding the country. The international community has emphasised the need for Syrian unity amid an outreach of support for the country's new rulers.

Several Arab states, including the UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Qatar and Kuwait issued statements in support of Mr Al Shara's government on Friday. The Emirates expressed solidarity with the Syrian people, and “its support for all endeavours aimed at fulfilling their aspirations for security, peace, and dignity”.

The Organisation of Islamic Co-operation readmitted Syria on Friday after suspending its membership in 2012, a year after the civil war began following the violent suppression of peaceful anti-Assad protests.

“This decision represents an important step towards Syria's return to the regional and international communities as a free and just state,” a Syrian Foreign Ministry statement said after an OIC meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah.