Several Syrian NGOs accused government forces of murdering dozens of civilians during the clashes that took place on Thursday and Friday in the regions inhabited by the Alawite community, following the surprise offensive launched by supporters of the former regime that brought chaos to major cities in that area such as Tartus, Banias, Jableh, or Latakia.
Countless videos that have spread in the last hours show piles of corpses scattered on the ground. "It's a disaster. They are killing entire families. With children. There are many corpses in the streets. My uncle's body is still lying on the roof with others. They were shot in cold blood. And he had been in prison for being an opponent of the previous regime," explained a resident of Banias via WhatsApp.
This journalist witnessed the looting by Damascus military of numerous businesses in that same city on Friday morning when the main column of the new Syrian army regained control of the metropolis, located between Tartus and Latakia. The fighting in Banias lasted throughout the night and much of that day.
From the center of the town, continuous mortar launches from troops loyal to President Ahmed Sharaa could be heard heading towards the Alawite villages in the vicinity. One of the projectiles hit a civilian home, causing a fire.
Quoting a security source, the Syrian state news agency Sana said that "individual violations" had occurred after civilians not affiliated with security forces headed towards the Syrian coast to halt the advance of insurgents loyal to Bashar al-Assad. "We are working to stop these violations," added the same official representative.
In a televised speech, Sharaa refused to clearly condemn the terrible events and although he said that "they will not allow anyone to react in an exaggerated manner," he had previously thanked his followers for "protecting and ensuring the safety of civilians."
The president accused supporters of the ousted Bashar al-Assad of causing chaos with their attack throughout the coastal region. "By assaulting hospitals and terrorizing innocents, you have attacked all Syrians. You have committed an unforgivable sin and you have received a response that you cannot bear. Therefore, hurry to surrender your weapons before it is too late," stated the head of state.
However, Sharaa then subtly criticized the events being spread and said that "prisoners should not be humiliated or beaten because it is against the country's law and God's law." Those words directly referred to the many images circulating on social media showing captured individuals suffering all kinds of abuses and beatings during the clashes.
"What distinguishes us from our enemy is our morality. When we compromise it, we lower ourselves to the level of our enemies. The remnants of the (Bashar al-Assad) regime are provoking us to commit transgressions. It is our duty to protect the people of the coast (the Alawites)," he added.
The country's intelligence chief, Anas Khattab, accused "former military and security leaders of the deceased regime" of being "behind" this sudden wave of events. "Some fools thought they could overthrow the will of our people and that's why they launched this treacherous operation," he added in several posts he shared online.
According to Reuters, one of the scenes of these massacres was the village of Al Mukhtareyah, near the main highway that runs along the Syrian coast. Videos show a pile of corpses, nearly twenty, lying on the asphalt.
Rami Abdulrahman from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights stated that local sources had explained to him that militants who arrived from Idlib were responsible. "They captured all the men and demanded that the women stay at home. The men were executed," he specified.
His organization estimates that at least 180 people were killed in this wave of reprisals.
Syria teetered on the brink of civil war on Thursday when a significant group of militants linked to the former Assad clan dictatorship coordinated attacks on numerous positions of local security forces in Alawite regions, including several hospitals.
A high-ranking official from the Damascus loyalists, Mustafa Kneifati, acknowledged that it was "a well-planned and premeditated attack." Armed groups opposed to the government of Ahmed al-Sharaa even managed to capture some barracks that they had to evacuate after reinforcements arrived from other areas of the country. In Banias, the vicinity of a police position was harassed by the rebels for hours in a struggle where both sides spared no ammunition or explosives.
The bloody events began with an ambush on a security forces patrol near the city of Jableh. Social media circulated images of the corpses of several police officers with clear gunshot wounds to the head, lying on the asphalt and surrounded by pools of blood. "They were all killed in the ambush. Where are the reinforcements?" could be heard from one of those present.
"We had offered them peace!" shouted another present in reference to the reconciliation process sponsored by the Damascus government after Assad's escape in December, when he agreed that members of the defeated army surrender their weapons in exchange for no punishment.
Late on Thursday night, an individual identifying himself as Muqdad Fatiha, a former member of the loyalists to the former regime, released a video calling for a general uprising in the Alawite regions and stating that his followers have decided to "liberate the coast from the terrorists of Jabhat al Nusra (the former name of the movement led by the current head of state, Sharaa). Those who want to join are welcome."
The escalating violence in the country threatens to spread to the Druze region of Sweida, where Suleiman Abdul Baki, one of the main leaders of the local militias, survived an attack on his home, which was hit by a rocket, as reported by local television.
Abdul Baki, who was seriously injured in a previous attack, has been one of the most prominent figures in that district, the main stronghold of the Druze community, to speak out against Israel's alleged interest in protecting members of his faith, which he considered an "interference" aimed at stoking division in the country. Baki also stood out in his opposition to the Bashar al-Assad regime and its Iranian allies.