Syria’s president calls for ‘peace, calm’ amid brutal clashes
Al Jazeera
Violence in Latakia, Tartous leaves hundreds dead as Syria faces deepening divides amid escalating conflict.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has urged for peace amid escalating communal violence that has killed hundreds of civilians in the coastal areas.
On Sunday morning, al-Sharaa stated the need to “preserve national unity and domestic peace; we can live together” as newly appointed forces clash with fighters from removed President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
The fighting began after pro-Assad fighters coordinated attacks on security forces on Thursday. The attacks spiralled into revenge killings as thousands of armed supporters of Syria’s new leadership went to the coastal areas to support the security forces.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, at least 745 Alawite civilians have been killed in Latakia and Tartous since Thursday, as well as about 125 members of the government’s security forces.
In addition, 148 pro-Assad fighters were killed, the Observatory added, taking the overall death toll to 1,018.
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