Over 1,300 people have been killed in fierce clashes between government forces and gunmen loyal to the Assad regime, according to a war monitor, in a serious challenge to the country’s new rulers.
The violence has pitted the Islamist-led government's security forces against fighters from Assad's Alawite minority. The dead include hundreds of Alawite civilians, whom the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported were killed in reprisals after attacks on security forces.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in clashes in the coastal provinces of Syria, according to one war monitoring group.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa forms committees to investigate the recent waves of violence between security forces and Alawite loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad. View on eurone
While Alawites are generally considered an offshoot of Shia Islam, their beliefs and practices are far more complex