Sectarian violence sweeps Syria as security forces rampage in Alawite towns

Photo: newsx.com

At least 147 people have been killed in Syria in the past two days, as security forces from the country's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) (banned in Russia) – led government carried out a series of massacres and extrajudicial executions against Alawites in the country's coastal regions as part of a broader security campaign to target remnants of the former Syrian Arab Army (SAA), ‘The Cradle’ reports.

Among those killed were 15 Alawite men who were executed by HTS forces in the village of al-Muktariyya on 7 March. "It is not clear what or if any criteria were used for their execution," Syria expert Joshua Landis wrote on the social media site. Landis added, "This sort of undirected killing is widespread now in Alawite villages. People are terrified."

Another 20 were killed by HTS militants in the village of Al-Haffeh in the Latakia countryside, with their bodies stacked in a group in an unfinished building. They appear to have been lined up and killed in an orderly manner.

Gunmen thought to be affiliated with the HTS-led government are also storming civilian houses in Alawite villages and killing their occupants, including as far away as the town of Waroud in the northern Damascus countryside, local sources speaking with ‘The Cradle’ said.

The security forces had previously disarmed the local Alawite families in Waroud. Last night, the roads accessing the town were closed, preventing any Alawite families from leaving. Gunmen linked to the new HTS government went from house to house, killing residents this morning, sources told ‘The Cradle’.

SOHR added that government security forces launched a major offensive on Qardaha, the hometown of former President Bashar al-Assad after fighters of the former government reportedly seized several villages.

Tanks and armored vehicles have been deployed to regain control of the areas. Earlier, government forces recaptured Baniyas, a strategic coastal city. Meanwhile, Jableh remains under near-total government control, though armed resistance persists in the mountainous regions along the coastline, SOHR said.

HTS forces have controlled Baniyas city after forcing the remnants of the former army to withdraw. Government forces are currently combing the city's outskirts and the highway using heavy artillery and machine guns, the rights monitor added.

In their sights were not only Alawites – “supporters of the former Assad regime” as most international media and news agencies were proclaiming early on Friday. Hundreds of Alawite families were found, members of which were executed or bombed from land and air in cold blood, ‘Defend Democracy’ site informs.

In countless videos circulating since the morning of March 7 on social media platforms chilling images – a punch in the stomach – show dozens of bodies of boys and men of all ages filling the streets of cities and villages in the province of Latakia. Eyewitnesses told journalists that the new “security forces” of President Saraa’s government executed in cold blood, either individually or in groups, any Alawite over 14 years old. The manhunt against them was unleashed not only in the streets of cities and villages but also from house to house…

According to the latest data from the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,” based in London and with well-informed sources since the start of the war in Syria in March 2011, the number of victims of the clashes that began on the evening of Thursday, March 6, has exceeded 200 in the last two days.

These clashes began on the evening of March 6 after a surprise attack by Alawites (including former high-ranking military officer Suhail al-Hassan, who was among the close allies of the former President Assad) who took up arms after three months of continuous intimidation of the western coastal areas of Syria by the jihadists of the HTS organization (banned in Russia), who flooded the area from the province of Idlib, taking on the role of “security forces.”

Among the hundreds of victims of the bloodbaths and mass executions carried out on Friday, March 7, in the outskirts and the city of the province of Latakia were, according to initial information, 13 women and at least five children.

These developments occur with tragic irony near the 14th anniversary of the start of the war in Syria in March 2011.

They demonstrate that the country is not only not at the end of the devastating multi-year war but faces a new, serious risk of general ignition on three basic fronts:

On the western coasts, where the Alawites are rising against the jihadists of the new President after a quarter of a barrage of terrorism, humiliating challenges, and violent retaliation.

In the southern part, where the Druze are forming new armed organizations to stand up to the new masters of power in Damascus and also to the Israeli invasion forces that conquered new Syrian territories from the first day of the collapse of the Assad government and demand complete demilitarization of the Syrian south.

In the northeastern part, where the Kurds of the “Syrian Democratic Forces” (SDF) and their autonomous administrative structures are receiving, to this day, continuous attacks not only from the Turkophile mercenaries of the so-called (and supposedly dissolved) “Syrian National Army” but also from the Turkish military, which never abandoned the territories of northern Syria it occupied after three military invasions.

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