Syria’s new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered a world backlash in opposition to the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.
In its newest toll on Monday (March 10, 2025), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights warfare monitor mentioned 973 civilians had perished since March 6 in “killings, field executions and ethnic cleansing operations” by safety personnel or pro-government fighters within the coastal heartland of the Alawite minority neighborhood to which the toppled president belongs.
Its earlier toll of 830 had specified the “executions” focused Alawites within the Mediterranean coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk mentioned Sunday (March 9, 2025) the killings “must cease immediately”, whereas the Arab League, the United Nations, the United States, Britain and different governments have condemned the violence.
“We will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians… or who overstepped the powers of the state,” Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa mentioned in a video posted by state information company SANA.
Earlier Sunday, the presidency introduced on Telegram that an “independent committee” had been fashioned to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them”, who would face the courts.
Fighting between safety forces and loyalists of the previous authorities
Fighting between the new safety forces and loyalists of the previous authorities erupted final Thursday, after earlier tensions, and escalated into reported mass killings.
The preventing has killed a whole bunch of safety forces in addition to pro-Assad fighters, in line with the Observatory, with the general dying toll exceeding 1,300.
Sharaa, in a separate tackle from a Damascus mosque, appealed for nationwide unity.
“God willing, we will be able to live together in this country,” he mentioned.
authorities forces have been conducting “sweeping operations”
Images on social media confirmed Syrian safety forces on pickups and vehicles driving previous thick black smoke that drifted over the highway on their means into the town of Jableh, between Latakia and Tartus.
The inside ministry mentioned on Sunday that authorities forces have been conducting “sweeping operations” in an space of Tartus province to “pursue the remnants of the toppled regime”.
SANA quoted a defence ministry supply as saying there have been clashes in Tanita village in the identical space.
An AFP photographer in Latakia metropolis reported a navy convoy coming into a neighbourhood to go looking houses.
In Baniyas, a metropolis additional south, resident Samir Haidar, 67, instructed AFP two of his brothers and his nephew have been killed by armed teams that entered folks’s houses, including there have been “foreigners among them”.
“They gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them,” Haidar mentioned.
U.S, on Syria conflict
The mass killings adopted clashes sparked by the arrest of a needed suspect in a predominantly Alawite village, the Observatory mentioned, reporting a “relative return to calm” within the coastal area on Saturday.
Chief U.S. diplomat Marco Rubio mentioned Syria “must hold the perpetrators of these massacres against Syria’s minority communities accountable”, whereas Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy mentioned Damascus authorities “must ensure the protection of all Syrians and set out a clear path to transitional justice”.
In Jordan, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani mentioned that, “Anyone involved in this matter will be referred to the judiciary.”
The semi-autonomous Kurdish administration in Syria’s north and east condemned the “crimes” and underlined “that these practices take us back to a dark period that the Syrian people do not want to relive.”
Israel on “granting legitimacy” to the new Syrian authorities
Sharaa’s Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which led the toppling of Assad in December, has its roots within the Syrian department of Al-Qaeda. It remains to be listed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and different governments.
The group has sought to average its picture lately. Since the insurgent victory, it has vowed to guard Syria’s spiritual and ethnic minorities.
The new authorities has acquired diplomats from the West and its neighbours. It is looking for an easing of sanctions together with funding to rebuild a rustic devastated by 13 years of civil warfare underneath the repressive rule of Assad.
Sharaa has mentioned Syria should be constructed “on the rule of law”.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, talking to German newspaper Bild, mentioned Europe “must wake up” and “stop granting legitimacy” to the new Syrian authorities who he insisted have been nonetheless jihadists.
The Alawite heartland has been gripped by worry of reprisals for the Assad household’s five-decade rule which included widespread torture and disappearances.
Social media customers have shared posts documenting the killing of Alawite buddies and relations.
The Britain-based Observatory, which depends on a community of sources in Syria, reported a number of “massacres” in latest days, with ladies and youngsters among the many useless.
During a sermon in Damascus, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch John X mentioned Christians have been amongst these killed and referred to as on Sharaa to “put a stop to these massacres… and give a sense of safety and security to all the people of Syria, regardless of their sect”.
Later on Sunday, Syrian safety forces fired into the air to disperse rival protesters in Damascus who engaged in bodily altercations over the killings within the coastal areas.
Published – March 10, 2025 08:00 am IST
