Syria gunmen execute 70 Alawites in Latakia, raising deaths to 147
A Syrian war monitor said Friday that gunmen loyal to the government "executed" nearly 70 members of the Alawite minority in Latakia province, where clashes broke out with gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar al-Assad.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the gunmen executed Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir, Al-Mukhtariya and Haffah in the Latakia countryside, based on videos it verified, as well as testimonies it received from the victims' relatives.
Fierce clashes broke out on Thursday in Latakia province, the heartland of the Alawite faith, an offshoot of Shiite Islam to which the Assad clan belongs.
The Observatory and activists released footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in a house yard, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.
In another clip, men in military garb appeared to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.
"They killed every man they encountered," Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said, referring to gunmen who killed residents who belong to the country’s minority Alawite sect of Assad.
Abdurrahman said the gunmen shot dead 69 men Friday and left without harming women or children in the three villages.
The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV said more than 30 men were killed in the village of Mukhtariyeh after they were separated from women and children. It added that others were also shot dead in Sheer and Haffah.
State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed security official as saying that after attacks by forces loyal to former president Bashar Assad left policemen dead, large numbers of people headed to areas along the coast "in what led to some individual violations and we are working on stop them."
The latest deaths raise to 147 the total number of people killed since clashes between government forces and fighters loyal to Assad broke out on Thursday.
In addition to the 70 reportedly killed, the Observatory said clashes since Thursday killed 72 people, including 36 security personnel, 32 gunmen loyal to Assad and four civilians.
Since Assad was toppled by Islamist-led rebels on December 8, Syria's new authorities have launched security campaigns seeking to root out "regime remnants", in particular targeting Alawite strongholds in the country's center and west.
Source: Agence France Presse
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