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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Gunmen and security forces linked to Syria’s new ruler has killed more than 1,000 people, including women and children from the Alawite minority, in the country’s coastal areas since Thursday, February 6, the head of a leading war monitor said. Experts called it the worst attack since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December.
At the United Nations in New York, diplomats said the United States and Russia had asked the Security Council to meet behind closed doors on Monday about the escalating violence in Syria.
The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, demanded a swift investigation into the killings and said those responsible must be held to account. Turk said the announcement by the country’s authorities to respect the law must be followed by action to protect Syrians and ensure accountability for violations.
How did the conflict start?
According to Al Jazeera, the fighting began after pro-Assad fighters coordinated attacks on security forces on Thursday. The attacks have escalated into revenge killings as thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leadership have moved to coastal areas to help the security forces.
Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Reuters that the widespread killings in Jableh, Baniyas and surrounding areas in Syria’s Alawite heartland were the worst violence in years in the 13-year-old civil conflict.
The new authorities in power have launched a crackdown on what they say is a rebellion by militants linked to Assad’s government. Dozens of security forces have been killed in fierce clashes with the militants, a Syrian security official said.
Syrian officials have acknowledged “violations” during the operation, but have blamed civilians and disorganized fighters who have tried to support the official security forces or committed crimes amid the chaos of the fighting.
The scale of the reported violence, which has included reports of execution-style killings of dozens of Alawite men in a village, has raised questions about the ability of the ruling Islamist authorities to govern in an inclusive manner, a major concern for other countries.
What Are Syria’s Leaders Doing?
Syria's leader vowed Sunday to hunt down the perpetrators of violent clashes pitting loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad against the country's new Islamist rulers and said he would hold accountable anyone who oversteps their authority.
Clashes that a war monitor said have killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, continued for a fourth day in Assad's coastal enclave.
In a speech broadcast on national television and posted on social media, Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose rebel movement toppled Assad in December, accused Assad loyalists and unnamed foreign powers of trying to foment unrest.
Earlier, Sharaa, while endorsing the crackdown in a televised speech on Friday, said security forces should not allow anyone to "exaggerate their response ... because what distinguishes us from our enemies is our commitment to our values." He added that civilians and prisoners should not be mistreated.
Who Has Been Killed in Two Days of Fighting?
There was relative calm after Assad’s ouster, but violence has escalated recently as forces aligned with the new Islamist rulers have launched a crackdown on a growing rebellion by the Alawite sect.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Saturday that more than 1,000 people had been killed in two days of fighting. It said 745 were civilians, 125 were members of the Syrian security forces and 148 were fighters loyal to Assad.
Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the observatory, said Sunday that the death toll was one of the highest since a chemical weapons attack by Assad’s forces in 2013 killed about 1,400 people in a Damascus suburb.
Syrian security sources said more than 300 of their members had been killed in clashes with former soldiers allied to Assad in the offensive that began on Thursday.
Syria’s state news agency SANA reported on Sunday that a mass grave containing the bodies of recently killed security forces had been found near Qardaha, Assad’s hometown.
Who’s Responsible?
Mazloum Abdi, a Kurdish commander, said in written comments to Reuters that factions “backed by Turkey and Islamist extremists” were most responsible for the violence, and called on Sharaa to hold them accountable.
Damascus authorities have blamed the summary execution of dozens of young men and deadly raids on homes in villages and towns inhabited by Syria’s once-powerful minority group on armed militias who have come to the aid of security forces.
A resident of the town of Qadmous told Reuters that residents of the town and surrounding villages had fled to nearby fields to protect themselves. He said that convoys of warplanes with tanks, heavy weapons and small drones had set fire to homes and cars along the main road near his town.
"We don't know how many people were killed because they haven't returned home and don't plan to return in the next few days," said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
A security source said pro-Assad rebels had attacked several public facilities in the past 24 hours, disrupting electricity and water supplies.
Damascus authorities have also sent reinforcements to beef up their security presence in mountainous Latakia province, where dense forests in hard-to-reach areas help anti-government fighters, another police source said.
Since Assad's ouster, Turkish-backed groups have clashed with Kurdish forces that control much of northeastern Syria. Israel has separately attacked military sites in Syria, and has lobbied the United States to keep Syria weak, sources told Reuters.
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