The terrible crimes of Tahrir al-Sham against the Alawites of Syria

The British Daily Mail has written in an article reflecting these developments: “More than 1,000 Syrians have been killed in brutal revenge killings in Syria in just two days, as the war-torn country continues to be engulfed in bloody battles between the newly-ruling forces and those loyal to former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”

In this regard, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a significant number of deaths in a statement released on Saturday evening. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced today that 1,018 people were killed in the Syrian coastal region, including 745 civilians, and that villagers fled to the mountains and forests. According to the Daily Mail, the organization also reported that “125 members of the Syrian government security forces and 148 militia members of armed groups supporting Bashar al-Assad have been killed in the clashes.”

The organization had previously reported that hundreds of Shiites had been killed by the so-called Golani General Security forces under the pretext of pursuing what it called elements affiliated with the former regime.

Human Rights Watch reported that electricity and water supplies had been cut off in large areas around the Syrian city of Latakia.

The British newspaper writes: “The violent clashes, which escalated on Thursday, are considered the deadliest since the Syrian civil war began 14 years ago and are a major escalation of tensions, challenging the new government based in Damascus three months after the militias seized power in Syria after removing Bashar al-Assad from power.”

According to the report, residents of the town of Banias, one of the cities that has seen the highest levels of violence in recent days, said bodies were scattered on the streets or left in houses and on rooftops, with no one able to collect them.

An eyewitness said: “For several hours, armed men did not allow a group of residents to collect the bodies of five neighbors who were shot dead at close range on Friday.”

A resident of Banias told Sky News: “They forced people into the streets, lined them up and started shooting at them. They didn’t leave anyone alive. The scene I saw was absolutely horrific. It was truly indescribable.”

He also described how the gunmen forced the women to walk naked before shooting and killing them.

Ali Shiha, a 57-year-old resident of Banias, fled the town with his family hours after the violence escalated on Friday, the Daily Mail reported, describing at least 20 of his neighbours and colleagues in one of Banias’s predominantly Alawite neighbourhoods as being killed, some in their shops and others in their homes.

Shiha called the killings a reprisal against the Shiite minority for the actions of the Bashar al-Assad government.

Other residents described the gunmen as foreign fighters and fighters from neighbouring towns and villages.

“The situation was very, very bad. There were bodies lying in the streets,” Shiha said as he continued his escape, speaking by phone from around 20km away in the town of Banias.

He stated that the armed men first gathered less than 100 meters from his apartment and began randomly shooting at houses and residents, and then began checking the residents' ID cards in order to identify Alawites and kill them.