Monitor reports 340 Alawite civilians killed by Syrian security forces, allies

A Syria war monitor reported on Saturday that more than 300 civilians from the Alawite minority have been killed in recent days by security forces and their allies, as authorities clash with militants loyal to the former government of Bashar al-Assad.

Restoring security has been one of the most complex tasks for Syria's new authorities, installed after Islamist-led forces ousted Assad -- himself an Alawite -- in a lightning offensive in December.

They are now facing their fiercest attacks yet by members of the Assad clan's Alawite minority and have launched a major counter-operation in the ethnic group's Mediterranean heartland.

Deadly clashes on Thursday triggered the security operation after previous tensions in the area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Saturday that "340 Alawite civilians were killed in the coastal regions of Syria and the Latakia mountains by security forces and allied groups" since then.

The Observatory indicated they were killed in "executions" carried out by security personnel or pro-government fighters and accompanied by "looting of homes and properties."

The civilian deaths bring the overall toll to 553 people, including 93 members of the new government's security forces and 120 pro-Assad fighters, data from the Observatory shows.

The killings followed clashes sparked by the arrest of a wanted individual by security forces in a predominantly Alawite village, the Observatory reported.

The monitor said there had been a "relative return to calm" in the region on Saturday, but that security forces were continuing sweeping operations and deploying reinforcements.

Early on Saturday, state news agency SANA reported that the security forces had repelled an "attack by remnants of the ousted regime" on the national hospital in the coastal city of Latakia.

AFP