At least 1,383 civilians killed in Syria violence: monitor toll

BEIRUT, Lebanon: At least 1,383 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, were killed in a wave of violence that gripped Syria’s Mediterranean coast, a war monitor said Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the civilians were killed in “executions by security forces and allied groups”, adding that the toll was still rising as more bodies were found, with the latest deaths recorded in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus and the neighbouring central province of Hama.

Syria grapples with the fallout from mass killings of Alawite minority members in western Syria – violence that the government said threatened efforts to unite Syria after 14 years of conflict.

In December, insurgents toppled the regime of former President Bashar al-Assad, a member of the country’s Alawite minority who fled to longtime supporter Russia.

The violence in the west was Sharaa’s biggest test since he seized power. A war monitor reported hundreds of civilians killed in Alawite villages since Thursday as government forces sought to crush what they described as an insurrection.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday condemned the killings.

“The massacres have weakened Sharaa. He has a lot of trouble internally and with the United States. It could help him show that he is not hostile to all minorities,” said Aron Lund, a fellow at U.S.-based think tank Century International.