Syrian security forces battle a nascent insurgency by fighters from the ousted leader Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect in Latakia, Syria. Photograph: Karam Al-Masri/Reuters
About 125 civilians have been executed by government security forces in north-west Syria during a rolling two-day battle with loyalists to the ousted Assad regime, a Syrian war monitor reported on Friday.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), a human rights monitor considered independent and credible, documented “large-scale field executions of men and young adults, without any clear distinction between civilians and combatants”, in north-west Syria.
SNHR has documented the killing of at least 240 people since Thursday, including 100 Syrian security forces and 15 civilians at the hands of Assad loyalists.
The fighting resulted in Syria’s deadliest day since the toppling of the Assad regime three months earlier.
Fighting started on Thursday afternoon when militants loyal to the ousted Assad government ambushed Syrian security forces in a coordinated attack in a rural area of Latakia province, a former stronghold of the deposed leader where many of Syria’s minority Alawite Islamic sect live.
Late on Friday, interim president Ahmad al-Sharaa called on armed groups affiliated with the former government to lay down their arms “before it’s too late” and for those loyal to the new government to avoid attacking civilians or abusing prisoners.
“When we compromise our ethics, we reduce ourselves to the same level as our enemy,” he said in a video address. “The remnants of the fallen regime are looking for a provocation that will lead to violations behind which they can seek refuge.”
The wide-scale military operation is the biggest challenge to the new government in Damascus since the former Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) toppled the Assad regime on 8 December.
In response to the attack, the Syrian government mobilised thousands of troops to north-west Syria, and attacked Assad loyalists with helicopter gunships, drones and artillery.
The attack by Assad loyalists seems to have provoked revenge killings in north-west Syria, which is populated heavily by the minority Islamic Alawite sect from which deposed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad hailed.
SNHR reported that in al-Mukhtariya, Latakia, about 40 civilians were executed together in a single location. Videos of the massacre show people dressed in civilian clothes piled on top of one another as women wailed. Another video in a second town showed gunmen executing seemingly unarmed men who were crawling on their hands and knees away from them.
The Guardian was unable to independently verify either of the videos.
Syria’s interior ministry said some “individual violations” had taken place as a result of people heading towards the villages being attacked by Assad loyalists, but did not claim responsibility for the alleged executions. “We are working to put a stop to these violations that do not represent the Syrian people as a whole,” an interior ministry source told Syria’s state broadcaster.
The Guardian asked for a specific comment from the interior ministry on the SNHR’s claims, but did not receive a response by the time of publishing.
The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, urged protection for civilians as clashes intensified. “There is clearly an immediate need for restraint from all parties, and full respect for the protection of civilians in accordance with international law,” Pedersen said in a statement.
Smoke rises as members of the Syrian security forces battle a nascent insurgency in Latakia. Photograph: Karam Al-Masri/Reuters
Government forces continued to battle with Assad regime loyalists late on Friday night, launching a military operation in Qardaha, Latakia, the home town of the former Syrian president, Hafez al-Assad, according to state media.
A source in the military of defence said security forces were targeting the buildings and hills around the town where former regime elements were hiding out.
The two-day, coordinated attack was a marked escalation by loyalists to the former government against Syria’s new rulers.
The new government in Damascus is struggling to consolidate its grip over the country. An Israeli incursion in south-east Syria, as well as an economic malaise perpetuated by western sanctions, threaten to undermine the fledgling authority’s rule.
The attack began in the town of Jableh, Latakia, on Thursday but soon spread to other areas. Gunmen cut off roads in the countryside and seized control of areas in the towns of Qardaha and Baniyas.
A video released by a former Assad regime officer shortly after the operation began called on Syria’s various sects to rise up against the government in Damascus in what it dubbed operation “coastal shield”.
Lengthy military columns of security officers and militias loyal to the government in Damascus quickly started heading towards Latakia from across Syria to quell the rebellion. Government forces began to carry out “combing operations” to catch gunmen
A curfew was established on the coast provinces and in Homs province, with people instructed not to leave their homes until 9am on Saturday.
“Civilians are being killed two blocks down from me. The fights are becoming bigger, I have no clue what’s going to happen,” said a resident of Jableh over the phone while sheltering in their home on Friday.
Saudi Arabia condemned what it described as “crimes” by “outlaw groups” and reaffirmed its backing for the new authorities.
Syria’s coast is populated by Alawites, the sect from which the Assad family hailed, though most of the sect had no relation to the former regime. Mutual suspicion between Alawites in the coastal region and the new rulers of Syria has persisted since the toppling of the Assad regime.
Despite assurances that minorities, including Alawites, would be safe in the new Syria, Alawite communities have been subject to a number of revenge killings since December.
In one case, on 31 January in the town of Arza, in Homs province, eight men were asked if they were Alawite and then executed with a bullet to the head. Ten more men were executed in Arza on Friday, with their bodies left out in the open, SNHR reported.
Syria’s new rulers have said the killings were “individual cases” committed by individuals and groups unaffiliated with the government in Damascus, but that has done little to quell the growing fears of Alawites.
The new Syrian authorities have come under criticism for not being inclusive enough of Syria’s religious diversity and its vast civil society. A transitional government is to be announced in the coming weeks, the makeup of which will be a key test for the new rulers of Syria’s commitment to pluralism.
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