DAMASCUS (AFP) — Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday urged insurgents from ousted president Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority to lay down their arms and surrender after the fiercest attacks on the war-torn country’s new rulers yet.
The warning came as Syria’s security forces “executed” 162 Alawites on Friday, according to a Syrian war monitor, in a massive operation in the ethnic group’s Mediterranean heartland triggered by deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to Assad the day before.
“You attacked all Syrians and made an unforgivable mistake. The riposte has come, and you have not been able to withstand it,” Sharaa said in a speech broadcast on Telegram by the Syrian presidency.
“Lay down your weapons and surrender before it’s too late.”
The war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that “311 Alawite civilians were killed in the coastal region... by security forces and allied groups” since the clashes began on Thursday, bringing the overall death toll to 524 people, including 213 security personnel and militants.
Restoring security has been one of the most complex tasks for Syria’s new authorities, installed after Islamist-led forces ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in December.
In his Friday address, Sharaa, who headed the coalition that forced out Assad, also vowed to keep working towards “monopolizing weapons in the hands of the state.”
“There will be no more unregulated weapons,” he pledged.