Syria forces beef up security as Alawites killing reported

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Syrian security forces deployed heavily in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday, after a war monitor reported that government and allied forces killed nearly 750 civilians from the religious minority in recent days.

Residents of the region continued to report killings of civilians after deadly clashes broke out on Thursday between Syria’s new authorities and gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar al-Assad, himself an Alawite.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 745 Alawite civilians were killed in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus.

The Britain-based Observatory said they were killed in “executions” carried out by security personnel or pro-government fighters, accompanied by the “looting of homes and properties.”

The civilian deaths took the overall toll from violence in the region since Thursday to 1,018, after fighting killed 125 members of the new government’s security forces and 148 pro-Assad fighters, according to the Observatory’s figures.

The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) news agency reported that security forces had deployed to Latakia, as well as Jableh and Baniyas farther south, to restore order.

Baniyas resident Samir Haidar, 67, told Agence France-Presse two of his brothers and his niece were killed by “armed groups” that entered people’s homes, adding that there were “foreigners among them.”

He managed to escape to a Sunni neighborhood, but said: “If I had been five minutes late, I would have been killed... we were saved in the last minutes.”

Though himself an Alawite, Haidar was part of the leftist opposition to the Assads and was imprisoned for more than a decade under their rule.

Defense ministry spokesperson Hassan Abdul Ghani said the security forces had “reimposed control” over areas that had seen attacks by Assad loyalists.

“It is strictly forbidden to approach any home or attack anyone inside their homes,” he added in a video posted by SANA.

The news agency later reported that “regime remnants” staged an ambush in the town of Al-Haffah in Latakia province, killing one member of the security forces and wounding two.

Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri announced that schools would remain shut on Sunday and Monday in both Latakia and Tartus provinces due to the “unstable security conditions.”

SANA reported a power outage throughout Latakia province due to attacks on the grid by Assad loyalists.