Gazeta Lodz - Syria monitor says security forces 'execute' 69 Alawites after fierce clashes

Thursday's violence saw the fiercest attacks on the country's new authorities since Assad was ousted in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels in December.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said security forces "executed 69 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir and Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside".

Its reporting was based on videos it verified, as well as testimonies it received from relatives of the dead.

The Observatory and activists released footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in the yard of a house, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.

In another clip, men in military garb appear to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.

A third video shared by the Observatory showed a fighter in military garb shooting a man at close range at the entrance of a building, killing him.

AFP could not independently verify the images.

An interior ministry source later told state news agency SANA that "individual violations" had occurred on the coast and pledged to put a stop to them.

"After remnants of the toppled regime assassinated a number of security personnel, popular unorganised masses headed to the coast, which led to a number of individual violations," the source said.

"We are working to put a stop to these violations that do not represent the Syrian people as a whole."

Syria's new authorities had earlier launched a sweeping security operation after Thursday's clashes left at least 78 people dead.

A curfew was imposed until Saturday in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, heartland of the ousted president's Alawite religious minority.

Security forces began what official news agency SANA described as a "large-scale" operation in the two provinces, following the arrival of reinforcements.

The operation "targeted remnants of Assad's militias and those who supported them", a security official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to "stay in their homes".

According to the Observatory's latest toll, at least 147 people have been killed since the clashes erupted on Thursday.

They include 78 people killed in the fighting -- 37 members of the security forces, 34 gunmen and seven civilians, the monitor said.

The Observatory also reported dozens of people wounded and others taken prisoner by both sides.

Authorities have also imposed a curfew in Syria's confessionally divided third city Homs.

Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in "a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols" around the coastal town of Jableh.

"We will restore stability to the region and protect the property of our people," he said.

SANA said that during their operation, security forces detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was "accused of hundreds of assassinations" under the rule of Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.

Later on Friday, the authorities announced a security sweep in the Jableh area, defence ministry spokesman Colonel Hassan Abdulghani told SANA.

- 'Everyone's afraid' -

Ali, a farmer living in Jableh, told AFP he saw "urban battles and street fighting".

"All night, we heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions," he said.

"Everyone's afraid... we are trapped at home and we can't go out."

Thursday's clashes saw security forces conduct helicopter strikes after they clashed with gunmen loyal to Assad-era special forces commander Suhail al-Hassan in the village of Beit Ana.

The strikes had prompted leaders of the Alawite community to call for "peaceful protests", saying they had targeted "the homes of civilians".

Tensions had erupted after residents of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, prevented security forces from arresting a person wanted for trading arms, the Observatory said.

Security forces subsequently launched a campaign in the area, resulting in clashes with gunmen, it added.

Syria expert Cedric Labrousse said on X that the fighting lasted all night, noting that this was "proof of the capacity to act, beyond a simple shock action, of these local insurrectional groups".

Islamist rebels led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched an offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, when he fled to Russia with his family.

Multiple high-ranking Assad loyalists have also fled since the former president's ouster, but many others remain in the country.

Syria's new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.

Residents and organisations have reported violations during those campaigns, including home seizures, field executions and kidnappings, which the authorities have described as "isolated incidents".

T.Ostrowski--GL