Clashes in Syria between government forces and Assad loyalists kill nearly 200

Fighters siding with Syria’s new government stormed three villages near the country’s coast, killing dozens of men in response to recent attacks on government security forces by loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad, a war monitor said.

The village assaults erupted on Thursday and continued on Friday.

Ongoing clashes between the two sides have marked the worst violence since Assad’s government was toppled in early December by insurgent groups led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.

The new government has pledged to unite Syria after 14 years of civil war.

Nearly 200 people have been killed since the fighting broke out, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In addition to 69 killed in the villages, the dead include at least 50 members of Syria’s government forces and 45 fighters loyal to Mr Assad.

The civil war that has been raging in Syria since March 2011 has left more than half a million people dead and millions displaced.

The most recent clashes began when government forces tried to detain a wanted person near the coastal city of Jableh on Thursday and were ambushed by Assad loyalists, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Thursday and Friday, gunmen loyal to the new government stormed the villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh and Haffah near the coast, killing 69 men but harming no women, according to the observatory.

“They killed every man they encountered,” said observatory chief Rami Abdurrahman.

Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV also reported the attacks on the three villages, saying that more than 30 men were killed in the village of Mukhtariyeh alone.

Syrian authorities did not publish a death toll, but Syria’s state news agency Sana quoted an unidentified security official as saying that numerous people went to the coast seeking revenge for recent attacks on government security forces.

The official said the actions “led to some individual violations and we are working on stop them”.

Overnight, Damascus sent reinforcements to the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartus and nearby villages that are home to Mr Assad’s minority Alawite sect and make up his longtime base of support.

A curfew remained in effect in Latakia and other coastal areas.

Under Mr 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 weeks.

There also have been some attacks against Alawites in recent weeks, though the new government says it will not allow collective punishment or sectarian vengeance.

Geir O. Pedersen, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said in a written statement that “all parties should refrain from actions that could further inflame tensions, escalate conflict, exacerbate the suffering of affected communities, destabilise Syria, and jeopardize a credible and inclusive political transition”.