Over 1,000 people have been killed in battles between security forces and supporters of deposed President Bashar al-Assad in one of Syria’s bloodiest acts of violence, according to the Associated Press.
Gunmen supporting the present administration began “revenge killings” against the Alawite minority sect, which was loyal to former President Assad, which sparked the bloodshed on Thursday. The government has restored control over the majority of the country, and the bloodshed has momentarily stopped. To regain stability, authorities have blocked all access to the beachfront area, which is the epicentre of the conflict.
Around 745 civilians were killed during the fighting between parties, primarily in close-range gunfire, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. 148 terrorists with Assad-affiliated armed organisations and 125 members of the government security force were also slain. Alawites had benefited from high-ranking military postings and other privileges throughout Assad’s reign. But since the new government took office three months ago, the Alawite have been singled out for persecution because of their ties to the old president.
In addition to the violence, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, based in Britain, said that some Alawite-majority parts of the city of Latakia had lost access to drinking water and electricity. Numerous homes belonging to members of the minority were robbed and later burned, Alawite village residents told AP.
People from the Alawite sect were escaping from Syria to Lebanon for safety, according to Lebanese politician Haidar Nasser, who occupies one of the two seats allotted to the group in his nation’s parliament. Amid the horrific images of violence, witnesses told the Associated Press that women were apparently stripped and paraded naked in the streets before being shot dead. Because gunmen had long prohibited locals from burying them, dead were spotted lying on the roofs of buildings and on the highways in Baniyas, one of the communities that had been hit the hardest.
According to the AP, one local said, “Bodies were on the streets,” as they were leaving their town after witnessing gunmen shoot and kill at random while also setting cars and houses on fire.