Clashes, revenge killings in Syria leave more than 1,000 dead in 2 days
A UK-based war monitor says more than 1,000 people have been killed in two days of intense clashes between militants aligned with Syria’s ruling Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham administration and armed opposition groups loyal to former President Bashar al-Assad and ensuing revenge killings in the country’s western region.
The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday that the death toll from the ongoing violence has risen to over 1,000 people, including 745 civilians, who were killed mostly execution-style, 125 HTS militants and 148 members of opposition groups.
The Observatory had earlier reported that at least 237 people, including 142 non-combatants, have been killed in Syria’s coastal region since the heavy fighting began on Thursday.
The clashes marked the deadliest escalation since the fall of the previous government last December.
Syria’s de facto leader, Abu Mohammad al-Julani, called for “peace” and “national unity” following the deadly violence, saying the developments are within “expected challenges.”
"We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace, we can live together," Julani said in a circulated video, speaking at a mosque in his childhood neighborhood of Mazzah, in Damascus.
The latest development comes as HTS forces continue their crackdown on remnants of the former Syrian military in the provinces of Latakia, Tartus, and Hama.
The clashes have taken place in the country’s northwestern coastal region, which is predominantly inhabited by the Alawite minority sect. Former Syrian President Bashar Assad also comes from the Alawite community.
The attacks come while the HTS administration has sought to assure religious and ethnic minorities that their rights would be upheld.
The HTS militant group seized control of Damascus on December 8, culminating a swift offensive that had begun in Aleppo just two weeks prior to that and ultimately brought an end to Assad’s 24-year rule.
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