Beirut – The two -day dead number of confrontations between the security forces and the loyal of the Syrian Syrian president Bashar Assad and the revenge murders that followed have increased to more than 1,000, including almost 750 civilians, said a war monitoring group on Saturday, which makes it one of the most dead outbreaks of violence since the conflict of Syria began 14 years ago.
The Syrian Human Rights Observatory with headquarters in Britain said that, in addition to 745 civilians, 125 members of the government security forces and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Deposed President Bashar Assad were killed.
The Observatory also said that electricity and drinking water were cut into large areas around the coastal city of Latakia and that many bakeries closed.
This is a last -minute news update. The previous AP story continues.
The death tolls of Two days of clashes between security forces and loyal expelled from President Sirio Bashar Assad And the revenge murders that followed have increased to more than 600, said a war monitoring group on Saturday, which makes it one of the most mortal acts of violence since the Syrian conflict began 14 years ago.
The clashes, which exploded on Thursday, marked a great escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after the insurgents took authority after taking Assad from power.
The government has said they were responding to the attacks of the remains of Assad’s forces and blamed “individual actions” for unbridled violence.
The murders of revenge that began on Friday by the Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against the members of the Alauita sect of the Assad’s minority are a great blow for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that directed the overthrow of the old government. The Alauitas constituted a large part of the Assad support base for decades.
The residents of Alawite peoples spoke with Associated Press about the murders during which the gunmen fired Alauitas, most of them men, in the streets or at the doors of their homes. Many Alauitas houses were looted and then incendiary in different areas, they told two residents of the Costera region of Syria to the AP from their hiding places.
They asked that their names were not public for fear of being killed by armed men, and added that thousands of people have fled to the nearby mountains for security.
The residents of Baniyas, one of the worst peoples affected by the violence, said that the bodies were scattered in the streets or left unpacking in houses and in the ceilings of the buildings, and no one could pick them up. A resident said the gunmen prevented residents for hours to remove the bodies of five of their neighbors killed on Friday at a short distance.
Ali Sheha, a 57 -year -old Baniyas resident who fled with his family and neighbors after violence broke out on Friday, said that at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues in a neighborhood in Baniyas where the Alauitas lived, were killed, some of them in their stores or in their homes.
Sheha described the attacks “Avenging murders” of the alauita minority for the crimes committed by the Assad government. Other residents said the gunmen included foreign combatants and militants of neighboring towns and peoples.
“It was very bad. The bodies were in the streets, “while fleeing, Sheha said, speaking from almost 20 kilometers (12 miles) of the city. He said that the gunmen were gathering less than 100 meters from their apartment building, randomly shooting houses and residents and at least one incident he knows, asked residents that their identifications review their religion and sect before killing them. And they stole cars and stole houses.
The Syrian Observatory of Human Rights based in Great Britain, a war monitor, said that 428 alauitas have been killed in revenge attacks in addition to 120 Pro-Assad combatants and 89 of the security forces. The head of the Observatory, Rami Abdurrahman, said that the murders for revenge stopped early.
“This was one of the greatest massacres during the Syrian conflict,” Abdurrahman said about the murders of Alauitas civilians.
The previous figure given by the group was more than 200 dead. No official figures have been published.
A funeral was held on Saturday afternoon for four members of the Syrian security force in the Northwest Al-Janoudiya village after they were killed in the clashes along the coast of Syria. Dozens of people attended the funeral.
The State News Agency of Syria cited an official of the unidentified Ministry of Defense saying that government forces have regained control of much of the Assad loyal areas. He added that the authorities have closed all the roads that lead to the coastal region “to avoid rapes and gradually restore stability.”
On Saturday morning, the bodies of 31 people killed in revenge attacks the day before in the central town of Tuwaym were buried in a massive grave, residents said. Those killed included nine children and four women, residents said, sending the AP photos of the bodies covered with white cloth while they were aligned in the tomb of the dough.
The Lebanese legislator Haidar Nasser, who owns one of the two seats assigned to the Alauita sect in Parliament, said people fled from Syria for security in Lebanon. He said he had no exact numbers.
Nasser said that many people were taking refuge in the Russian air base in Hmeimim, Syria, adding that the international community should protect alauitas who are loyal Syrian citizens to their country. He said that since the fall of Assad, many alauitas were fired from their works and some former soldiers who reconciled with the new authorities were killed.
Under Assad, the Alawites occupied the best positions in the army and security agencies. The new government blamed its loyal for attacks against the new security forces of the country in recent weeks.
The most recent clashes began when government forces tried to stop a person sought near Jableh’s coastal city, and were ambushed by Assad’s loyal, according to the observatory.
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Omar Albam contributed to this Al-Janoudiya report, Syria.
