Syria’s New Authorities Kill Hundreds of Civilians in Cold Blood, Says NGO
The forces of the new Syrian administration are sending reinforcements to Jableh, in the coastal province of Latakia, where intense clashes are taking place with fighters loyal to former president Bashar al-Assad. Photo: EFE/Yahya Nemah
March 8, 2025 Hour: 1:41 pm
Syria’s new security forces have executed in cold blood over the past three days hundreds of civilians from the Alawite minority, to which the former president’s family belongs, in the country’s coastal areas.
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According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 428 civilians have been killed by the Damascus forces since Thursday when insurgent groups loyal to Al-Assad carried out an attack on the troops of the new administration in Latakia province, feud of the Al Asad family and Alawite majority.
This triggered large-scale clashes, in which all kinds of heavy weapons have been used, and which have spread to other provinces such as Tartus, also on the coast, and the central administrative demarcations of Hama and Homs, where more than 640 people have died.
A little over 200 fighters have died in the wave of violence, which has had as its main target the civilian population of the Alawite minority, who according to the Observatory has been the victim of “acts of revenge” by government forces.
Videos circulating on social networks, many of them verified by the Observatory and groups of activists, show new Syrian forces and allied armed groups firing at point blank range at unarmed civilians and carrying out “cold-blooded executions”.
Faced with this situation and the “massacre” of citizens, including women and children, the NGO called on the international community “to take urgent action and send specialized international investigation teams to document the grave violations affecting civilians”.
He also called on the authorities in Damascus to “hold accountable” their troops involved in these actions, considering that “impunity encourages the repetition of crimes in the future, which threatens political and social stability in Syria after the fall of Al-Assad”.
The Arab League condemned in a statement the attacks on security forces, but also the “uncontrolled killings” taking place in coastal areas of the country.
Autor: ACJ
Fuente: EFE