Lucy Clarke-Billings and Gabriela Pomeroy
BBC News
Syria’s leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to hold anyone involved in harming civilians accountable after days of clashes where Syrian security forces allegedly killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority.
A UK-based monitor said 830 civilians were killed in “massacres” targeting Alawites on the west coast on Friday and Saturday.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the death toll of the violence, which is believed to be the worst since the fall of the Assad regime.
In a speech broadcast on national TV and posted on social media, Sharaa, whose rebel movement toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, also promised to hunt down Assad loyalists.
The fighting has also killed 231 members of the security forces and 250 pro-Assad fighters, according to the monitor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), taking the overall death toll to 1,311.
“Today, as we stand at this critical moment, we find ourselves facing a new danger – attempts by remnants of the former regime and their foreign backers to incite new strife and drag our country into a civil war, aiming to divide it and destroy its unity and stability,” the interim president said on Sunday.
“We affirm that we will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who is involved in the bloodshed of civilians or harming our people, who overstepped the powers of the state or exploits authority to achieve his own ends,” Sharaa added in the video speech, posted by state news agency Sana.
“No-one will be above the law and anyone whose hands are stained with the blood of Syrians will face justice sooner rather than later.”
Earlier on Sunday, he announced on Telegram that an “independent committee” had been formed to “investigate the violations against civilians and identify those responsible for them”.
He also appealed for national unity but did not comment directly on accusations that atrocities were being committed by his supporters in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous.
“God willing, we will be able to live together in this country,” he said in an separate address from a Damascus mosque.
A Syrian security source said the pace of fighting had slowed around the cities of Latakia, Jabla and Baniyas on Sunday, according to Reuters.
The violence of recent days has been sparked after ambushes on government forces on Thursday.
A Syrian defence ministry spokesman described it to the Sana state news agency as “treacherous attacks” against security personnel.
It has since escalated into a wave of clashes between Assad loyalists and government forces.
Hundreds of Syrians gathered in Damascus to protest against the deadly violence in the country. Demonstrators congregated in Marjeh Square – also known as Martyrs’ Square – with placards on Sunday.
Amid the fighting, hundreds of civilians living along the Mediterranean coast have fled their homes. The provinces of Latakia and Tartous were former heartlands of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite minority.
Alawites, whose sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam, make up around 10% of Syria’s population, which is majority Sunni Muslim.
The violence has left the Alawite community in “a state of horror”, an activist in Latakia told the BBC on Friday.
Large crowds sought refuge at a Russian military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to the Reuters news agency.
Video footage shared by Reuters showed dozens of people chanting “people want Russian protection” outside the base.
Meanwhile, local media reported dozens of families had also fled to neighbouring Lebanon.
The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he was “deeply alarmed” by “very troubling reports of civilian casualties” in Syria’s coastal areas.
He called on all sides to refrain from actions which could “destabilise” the country and jeopardise a “credible and inclusive political transition”.
Similarly, the UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the reports “extremely disturbing”, adding the need for “prompt, transparent and impartial investigations” into all the violations.
Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, described the killings of Alawites in Latakia and Tartous as “systematic” and “extremely dangerous”, and accused Syria’s interim government of failing to control the crisis.
“It was expected that after the fall of the Assad government, Syria would face a difficult transition,” Amani said. “But the scale of violence now unfolding is unprecedented and deeply troubling.”
Iran’s government was aligned with Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, which was toppled last December. Assad was ousted after decades of repressive and brutal rule by his family and an almost 14-year-long civil war.
