Amnesty International’s regional director, Heba Morayef, has urged an independent investigation following reports of mass killings of civilians, primarily from the Alawite minority, in Syria’s coastal regions.

“Alongside the ongoing government investigation, authorities must allow national and international independent investigators access to Syria, including the coastal areas, to conduct their own inquiries,” Morayef stated in a declaration published on the organization’s website.

According to Amnesty, the horrifying images of massacred civilians serve as a “grim reminder of past cycles of atrocities” suffered by Syrians and risk fueling sectarian tensions and further violence.

On March 6, fierce clashes erupted in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus between Syrian security forces and armed units opposed to the new authorities in Damascus.

Syria’s Ministry of Defense reported that 231 security personnel were killed in the fighting.

The northwest of Syria is a stronghold of the Alawite minority, to which former President Bashar al-Assad (2000-2024) belonged.

According to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), at least 830 Alawite civilians have been killed in recent days as a result of what it describes as an “ethnic cleansing operation” in the region.

On Sunday, Russia and the United States requested a closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation in Syria.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, condemned the killings of civilians and called for an investigation to bring those responsible to justice.

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