Death toll rises following clashes and revenge killings in Syria

Relatives and neighbours attended a funeral procession for Syrian security force members killed in the clashes. (AP: Omar Albam)

In short:

More than 1,000 people have died after two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted president Bashar Assad.

The clashes mark a major escalation in the challenge for the new government in Damascus.

What's next?

The government says they were responding to attacks from remnants of Assad's forces and blamed "individual actions" for the rampant violence.

The death toll has risen to more than 1,000 people after two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted president Bashar Assad.

A war monitoring group made the announcement on Saturday, local time, adding it is one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria's conflict began 14 years ago.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in addition to 745 civilians killed, mostly in shootings from close distance, 125 government security force members and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Assad were killed. 

It added that electricity and drinking water were cut off in large areas around the city of Latakia.

The clashes, which erupted on Thursday, marked a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after removing Assad from power.

The government said that they were responding to attacks from remnants of Assad's forces and blamed "individual actions" for the rampant violence.

Retribution killings

The revenge killings that started on Friday by Sunni Muslim gunmen loyal to the government against members of Assad's minority Alawite sect are a major blow to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the faction that led the overthrow of the former government. 

Syria's key players explained in a single map

Photo shows People wave the flag of the Syrian rebels.

The collapse of the Assad regime has fragmented Syria's territory, with several armed groups now jostling for control and international players anxious to preserve their regional interests.

Alawites made up a large part of Assad's support base for decades.

Residents of Alawite villages and towns spoke to the Associated Press about killings during which gunmen shot Alawites, the majority of them men, in the streets or at the gates of their homes. 

Many homes of Alawites were looted and then set on fire in different areas, two residents of Syria's coastal region told the AP from their hideouts.

They asked that their names not be made public out of fear of being killed by gunmen, adding that thousands of people have fled to nearby mountains for safety.

Baniyas residents speak of atrocities

Residents of Baniyas, one of the towns hit the worst by the violence, said bodies were strewn on the streets or left unburied in homes and on the roofs of buildings, and nobody was able to collect them. 

One resident said that the gunmen prevented residents for hours from removing the bodies of five of their neighbours killed on Friday at close range.

Ali Sheha, a 57-year-old resident of Baniyas who fled with his family and neighbours hours after the violence broke out on Friday, said that at least 20 of his neighbours and colleagues in one neighbourhood of Baniyas where Alawites lived, were killed, some of them in their shops, or in their homes.

Mr Sheha called the attacks "revenge killings" of the Alawite minority for the crimes committed by Assad's government. 

Relatives and neighbours attended a funeral procession in the village of Al-Janoudiya, west of Idlib on Saturday. (AP: Omar Albam)

Other residents said the gunmen included foreign fighters, and militants from neighboring villages and towns.

"It was very, very bad. Bodies were on the streets," as he was fleeing, Mr Sheha said, speaking by phone from nearly 20 kilometres away from the city. 

He said the gunmen were gathering less than 100 metres from his apartment building, firing randomly at homes and residents and in at least one incident he knows of, asked residents for their IDs to check their religion and their sect before killing them. 

He said the gunmen also burned some homes, stole cars and robbed homes.

Death toll multiplies

The Observatory's chief Rami Abdurrahman said that revenge killings stopped early on Saturday.

"This was one of the biggest massacres during the Syrian conflict," Mr Abdurrahman said about the killings of the Alawite civilians.

The previous figure given by the group was more than 600 dead. No official figures have been released.

A funeral was held on Saturday afternoon for four Syrian security force members in the north-western village of Al-Janoudiya after they were killed in the clashes along Syria's coast. Scores of people attended the funeral.

Relatives and neighbours mourn during the funeral procession for four Syrian security force members killed in the clashes. (AP: Omar Albam)

Syrian forces regaining control, official reports

Syria's state news agency quoted an unnamed Defense Ministry official saying that government forces have regained control of much of the areas from Assad loyalists. 

It added that authorities have closed all roads leading to the coastal region "to prevent violations and gradually restore stability".

On Saturday morning, the bodies of 31 people killed in revenge attacks the day before in the central village of Tuwaym were laid to rest in a mass grave, residents said. 

Those killed included nine children and four women, the residents said, sending the AP photos of the bodies draped in white cloth as they were lined in the mass grave.

Lebanese legislator Haidar Nasser, who holds one of the two seats allocated to the Alawite sect in parliament, said that people were fleeing from Syria for safety in Lebanon. He said he didn't have exact numbers.

Assad denies planning to flee Syria in first comments from Moscow

Photo shows Vladimir Putin (R) and Bashar al-Assad stand at an airbase on a bright clear day.

In a post on Telegram, an account belonging to the ousted president insists he remained in Damascus until rebel fighters arrived in the city, and then moved to a Russian air base further north, which was then evacuated to Moscow by Russian officials.

Mr Nasser said that many people were sheltering at the Russian air base in Hmeimim, Syria, adding that the international community should protect Alawites who are Syrian citizens loyal to their country. 

He said that since Assad's fall, many Alawites were fired from their jobs and some former soldiers who reconciled with the new authorities were killed.

Under Assad, Alawites held top posts in the army and security agencies. The new government has blamed his loyalists for attacks against the country's new security forces over the past several weeks.

France expressed "its deep concern" over recent violence in Syria. 

Paris "condemns in the strongest possible terms atrocities committed against civilians on the basis of religion grounds and against prisoners," its foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

France urged Syrian interim authorities to make sure independent investigations "shed full light on these crimes".

The most recent clashes started when government forces tried to detain a wanted person near the coastal city of Jableh, and were ambushed by Assad loyalists, according to the Observatory.

AP