A UN commission investigating sectarian bloodshed in Syria's Alawite heartland in March has found security forces of the new government and its allies, as well as fighters loyal to the deposed Assad regime, were responsible for violence that claimed hundreds of lives over three days.
The spate of killings took place largely in the predominantly Alawite western provinces of Latakia and Tartus, where security personnel and their allies were accused of carrying out summary executions, mostly targeting civilians from the religious minority.
About 1,400 people, mainly civilians, were reported killed during the violence and reports of violations continue, according to a report released on Thursday by the UN Syria Commission of Inquiry.
Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad Al Shibani said the regime "deeply appreciates" the commission's efforts. "We take serious note of the alleged violations committed," Mr Al Shibani wrote in a letter to the inquiry's chairman in which he said investigations continue.
US envoy Tom Barrack called the fact-finding report a "serious step". He said "a united, inclusive Syria requires justice pursued consistently and some cadenced patience from the outside world."
The report said the violence committed by "members of the interim government forces and private individuals operating alongside or in proximity to them ... followed a systematic pattern across multiple, widespread locations".
"The violations included acts that likely amount to war crimes," it said.
The commission documented cases of "murder, torture and inhumane acts relating to the treatment of the dead, widespread looting and burning of homes, all of which displaced tens of thousands of civilians".
Human rights groups and international organisations have said entire families were killed, including women, children and the elderly. Gunmen stormed homes and asked residents whether they were Alawite or Sunni before killing or sparing them, they said.
The UN commission documented similar cases in which men were "identified as belonging to the Alawi sect and then separated from the women and children before being led outside to be shot".
The report said the outbreak of violence was triggered when forces loyal to former president Bashar Al Assad carried out a deadly ambush of government forces conducting an arrest operation in Latakia on March 6. Further attacks followed as the government responded by mobilising forces in Latakia, Tartus and other areas.
About 200,000 pro-government military reinforcements converged on the area, Damascus said.
During his rule, Mr Al Assad – himself an Alawite – had cultivated an image as a defender of minorities, even as his authoritarian rule plunged the country into civil war.
Since his downfall at the hands of Islamist-led rebels, violations like those on the coast have raised questions about the new authorities' ability to protect minorities and manage sectarian tension.
The commission, which said it had been granted "unfettered access" to the area by the government, based its findings on more than 200 interviews with survivors and witnesses.
It said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that members of the security forces and others engaged in "serious violations of international human rights law".
"The scale and brutality of the violence documented in our report is deeply disturbing," said commission chairman Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, urging the government to hold those responsible to account.
"While dozens of alleged perpetrators of violations have reportedly since been arrested, the scale of the violence documented in our report warrants expanding such efforts."
The commission said it "continues to receive information about ongoing violations in many of the affected areas, including abductions of women, arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances".
It said it had "found no evidence of a governmental policy or plan to carry out such attacks", though their systematic nature "in certain locations may be indicative of an organisational policy within certain factions or groups".
The Syrian government welcomed the commission's report, saying its contents were consistent with the findings of its own Independent National Fact-Finding Commission.
The Syrian commission documented "serious violations against civilians on March 7, 8 and 9, including murder, premeditated murder, looting, destruction and burning of homes, torture and sectarian insults", according to its report released last month.
It confirmed "the names of 1,426 dead, including 90 women", and identified 298 alleged perpetrators of violations linked to military factions, as well as 265 alleged perpetrators linked to armed groups associated with the former regime.
The UN commission's report was released amid an ongoing standoff between government forces and local armed groups in the southern province of Sweida, where the population is predominantly from Syria's Druze minority. The government deployed its forces in the province after clashes broke out between the Druze and Bedouin tribal fighters last month.
