NOS News • today, 16:56 More than 600 dead reported after violence erupts in northwestern Syria
The death toll from the renewed violence in northwestern Syria has risen to over 600, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SHOR), which is based in England. Last night, there was talk of 150 fatalities. There are no official figures.
The violence is taking place in the coastal area of ??Syria, where many Alawites live, where troops of the new rulers and supporters of the ousted president Assad are facing each other.
Assad fled the country in early December, he belongs to the Alawite community. The new rulers belong to the Sunni group HTS. The government says it is countering attacks by remnants of Assad's troops. Sunni fighters loyal to HTS are said to hold Alawites partly responsible for the repression under Assad and are seeking revenge.
Massacres The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict through a network of informants, says that massacres were committed in at least 21 places yesterday. More than 400 Alawites are said to have been killed in the violence. Independent reporting from the area is scarce, because there are hardly any journalists present.
According to the SOHR, 60 people were executed in the city of Banias alone. Residents told the AP news agency about massacres, with bodies left in the streets. In the village of Tuweim, residents said 31 bodies were buried in a mass grave this morning. Nine children and four women were among the dead.
Looting Alawite homes were reportedly looted and then set on fire. The testimonies also mention thousands of people fleeing to nearby mountains.
A Syrian MP says people have also gone to Lebanon or sought refuge at the Russian air base near the Syrian port of Latakia.
An unnamed Defense Ministry official told state news agency Sana that government forces had regained control of the region from Assad supporters. He also said authorities had closed all roads to the coastal region.
