INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Gunmen and security forces linked to Syria’s new Islamist rulers have killed more than 340 people, including women and children from the
Alawite minority, in the country’s coastal region since Thursday, the head of a war monitor said.Rami Abdulrahman of the Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights said the widespread killings in Jableh, Baniyas and surrounding areas in Syria’s Alawite heartland amounted
to the worst violence for years in a 13-year-old civil conflict.The new ruling authority on Thursday began a crackdown on what it said was a
nascent insurgency after deadly ambushes by militants linked to former president Bashar al-Assad’s government.Several dozen members of the
security forces have been killed in heavy clashes with militants, a Syrian security official said.Officials have acknowledged violations
during the operation, which they have blamed on unorganized masses of civilians and fighters who sought to support official security forces
or commit crimes amid the chaos of the fighting.A defence ministry source on Saturday told state media that all roads leading to the coast
had been blocked to stop violations and help return calm, with security forces deploying in streets of coastal cities.The source added that
an emergency committee set up to monitor violations would refer anyone found not to have obeyed the orders of the military command to a
military court.The reported scale of the violence, which includes reports of an execution-style killing of dozens of Alawite men in one
village, puts into further question the Islamist ruling authority’s ability to govern in an inclusive manner, which Western and Arab
capitals have said is a key concern.Assad was overthrown last December after decades of dynastic rule by his family marked by severe
repression and a devastating civil war.Syria’s interim president, Ahmed Sharaa, while backing the crackdown in a televised address late on
Friday, said security forces should not allow anyone to “exaggerate in their response… because what differentiates us from our enemy is
our commitment to our values.”“When we give up on our morals, us and our enemy end up on the same side,” he said, adding that
civilians and captives should not be mistreated.Syrian Facebook on Saturday was filled with images and obituaries of people from the coastal
area being mourned by family and friends who said they had been killed.Abdulrahman, a leading critical voice against the Assad-led
government who documented its alleged killings for more than a decade, said: “This is not about being pro or against the former Assad
These are sectarian massacres that aim to expel the Alawite population from their homes.”The defence ministry and internal security agency
said on Saturday they were trying to restore calm and order and prevent any violations against civilians in the coastal region.Six residents
of the coastal region said thousands of Alawites and Christians had fled their homes since Thursday, fearing for their lives.Several
hundred, mostly women and children and elders, sought refuge at a Russian Mediterranean military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to
footage from the scene and two people familiar with the matter.Abdulrahman and four people in the coastal region who spoke on condition of
anonymity said killings, looting and burning of homes had continued overnight in Baniyas and in surrounding villages.Reuters, however, said
it cannot independently verify the reports or the assertions.(Reuters) The post Hundreds killed in Syrian crackdown on Alawite region, war
monitor says first appeared on Ariana News.
