The number of deaths in violence on the Syrian coast rises to more than 1000

Beirut (AP) – The number of deaths from Two days of clashes Between the Syrian security forces and those loyal to President Bashar al -Assad overthrew The war control group said on Saturday, and the killings of revenge, which followed, rose to more than 1000

The Syrian Observatory in Britain for Human Rights, in addition to 745 civilians who were killed, said, most of them in the shooting operations from a distance, 125 members of the Government Security Force and 148 militants who have armed groups associated with Assad were killed. He added that electricity and drinking water were cut in large areas around the city of Latakia.

The clashes, which erupted on Thursday, were a great escalation in the challenge facing the new government in Damascus, three months after the rebels took power after the lion was removed from power.

The government said that they were responding to attacks from the remains of Assad’s forces and blamed “individual measures” of the outbreak of violence.

Revenge killings between the Sunnis and the twins

The killings of revenge that started on Friday by the Sunni Muslim militants loyal to the government against members of the Assad sect in IPIT are a major blow to Sham, the faction that led the overthrow of the previous government. Alawits formed a large part of the Assad support base for decades.

Residents of villages and towns in the Associated Press talked about the killings during which they fired gunmen who shot Alonion, most of them men, in the streets or in the doors of their homes. Many Albanians were looted, and then the fire was caught in different regions, two residents of the coastal region in Syria told the University of Public Security from their hideouts.

They asked not to get their names from the fear of killing by the militants, adding that thousands of people fled to the mountains near for safety.

Residents talk about atrocities in one city

Panias residents, one of the worst cities through violence, said that the bodies are tilted in the streets or left not engraved in the houses and on the roofs of the buildings, and no one was able to collect them. One of the residents said that the gunmen prevented the residents for hours from removing the bodies of five of their neighbors who were killed on Friday.

Ali Shhi, a 57 -year -old resident of Baniyas, said, he fled with his family and neighbors hours after the outbreak of violence on Friday, that at least 20 of his neighbors and colleagues in a neighborhood in Banias, where Al -Alawi lived, some of them in their stores, or in their homes.

Shah called “revenge killings” attacks of the Alawite minority of the crimes committed by the Assad government. Other residents said the militants, including foreign fighters and fighters from neighboring villages and towns.

“It was very bad. Shah said that the bodies were on the streets,” while he was fleeing, speaking by phone from about 20 km (12 miles) from the city. He said that the gunmen were gathering less than 100 meters from the building of his apartment, and they would shoot randomly at homes and residents, and in at least one accident, the residents asked their residents to verify their religion and sect before killing them. He said that the gunmen burned some homes, stole the cars and stole the houses.

The number of deaths doubled

The head of the observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said that the killings for revenge were stopped early on Saturday.

“This was one of the largest massacres during the Syrian conflict,” Abdel Rahman said about the killing of Alawite civilians.

The previous number provided by the group was more than 600 people. No official personalities have been launched.

A funeral was held on Saturday afternoon for four members of the Syrian security forces in the northwestern village of Jandia after they were killed in the clashes along the coast of Syria. Dozens of people attended the funeral.

Official reports say

The government news agency in Syria quoted an unveiled official of the Ministry of Defense as saying that government forces have regained control of many areas of Assad’s loyalists. He added that the authorities closed all roads leading to the coastal area “to prevent violations and gradually restore stability.”

On Saturday morning, the bodies of 31 people were placed in revenge attacks the previous day in the central village in Tofim to rest in a mass grave, the residents said. Residents said that the dead, including nine children and four women, were sending pictures of the bodies of the bodies with a white cloth while lining up in the mass grave.

Lebanese legislator Haider Nasser, who holds one of the two seats allocated to the Ilite community in Parliament, said that people were fleeing from Syria for safety in Lebanon. He said he has no accurate numbers.

Nasser said that many people possessed the Russian air base in Hmeimim, Syria, adding that the international community should protect the highest Syrian citizens loyal to their country. He said that since the fall of Assad, many of the automatics were expelled from their jobs and some former soldiers who faded with the new authorities were killed.

During the Assad era, Al -Alawi held high positions in the army and security agencies. The new government has blamed the loyalists with attacks against the new security forces in the country in the past few weeks.

France has expressed its “deep concern” about the recent violence in Syria. The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Paris “owes the strongest possible atrocities committed against civilians on the basis of the causes of religion and against the prisoners.”

France urged the interim Syrian authorities to verify independent investigations “to highlight these crimes.”

The latest clashes began when government forces tried to detain a wanted person near the coastal city of Jababa, and was caused by the loyal lion, according to the observatory.

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Omar Albam contributed to this report in this report.