Cairo, 8 March 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Hundreds of civilians from Syria's Alawite religious minority have been killed in cold blood as the country is roiled by its worst violence since the overthrow of long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad around three months ago, a monitor reported on Saturday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that at least 340 members of the minority sect had lost their lives in revenge killings by the new government's security forces and allied fighters in the country's coastal region.

The observatory's head, Rami Abdel-Rahman, expected the toll to exceed 1,000 and called on Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the ouster of al-Assad, to intervene to stop what he described as "massacres and displacement" of the Alawites.

The monitor reported atrocities against civilians in several parts of the region, including 60 executions by firing squads in the Mediterranean city of Baniyas. 

"The young men were liquidated in a way not different from the operations carried out by the security forces of the former [al-Assad] regime, in a collective act of revenge," added the UK-based monitor that relies on a network of activists inside Syria.

One resident in Baniyas said fear and terror were rife, especially among the Alawites. “There are many transgressions and killings based on sectarian affiliation. There are also thefts," he told dpa on condition of anonymity for security fears.

Clashes erupted on Thursday in Syria's coastal region after transitional government forces were targeted in a string of attacks and ambushes blamed on al-Assad's armed supporters.

Gripped by fears of more massacres as security forces search for insurgents, many Alawite families have left their villages in the coastal region seeking safer places, the observatory said.

The fighting has left more than 200 people dead on both combatant sides, in the war-torn country's deadliest violence since al-Assad's overthrow in December, the monitor reported on Saturday.

The death toll over the past two days has resulted in 93 deaths among government forces and 120 among the armed attackers, it added.

Street clashes are ongoing in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus.

Latakia is a stronghold of the Alawite sect to which al-Assad belongs.

Al-Sharaa, who commanded the Islamist-led rebel alliance that toppled al-Assad, vowed Friday that anyone who commits abuses against civilians will be severely punished.

Still, he did not mention reports of civilian executions.

Syrian state news agency SANA, citing a defence source, reported on Saturday that an emergency committee had now been formed to refer violators of the military command's orders to the military court.

Authorities have closed the roads leading to the coastal region to "control violations, prevent transgressions, and gradually restore stability to the area," the source said, without elaborating. 

Since al-Assad's overthrow, Syria's new leadership has been pushing for the lifting of sanctions imposed during his rule and trying to re-establish security in the country ruined by a long civil war. 

Photo: EPA