Syrian security forces are believed to have killed hundreds of civilians belonging to the Alavit minority group in the continuation of violence along the country's coast, according to a war -monitoring group.
The British Syrian Human Rights Observatory (SOHR) said about 745 civilians were killed at about 30 “massacres” aimed at Alavites on Friday and Saturday.
The BBC News failed to check these claims independently.
It is reported that hundreds of people have fled their homes in the region – the heart of the overthrown President Bashar al -Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite sect.
A total of over 1000 people have been killed in the last two days, said Sor, in what is the worst violence in Syria since the rebels removed the Assad regime in December.
This figure includes dozens of government troops and artillery artillery loyal to Assad, which have been locked in clashes in Latakia's coastal provinces and Tartous from Thursday.
About 125 members of the State Security Forces, led by Islamist, and 148 Assad fighters were killed in violence, according to the Sor's report.
A spokesman for Syria's Ministry of Defense told the SANA news agency in the country that the government has restored control after “insidious attacks” against its security employees.
Violence has left the Alawite community in a “state of horror”, an activist in the city told BBC on FridayHundreds of people, according to reports, are fled from the affected areas.
Large crowds were looking for asylum at a Russian military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to Reuters news agency.
Video footage shared by Reuters showed dozens of people who chant “People want Russian protection” outside the base.
Meanwhile, dozens of families have fled to neighboring Lebanon, according to local media.
The UN Special Envoy to Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he was “deeply worried” by “very anxious reports of civil victims” in the coastal regions of Syria.
He urged all countries to refrain from actions that could “destabilize” the country and threaten “reliable and inclusive political transition”.
Alawites, whose sect is a shoot of Shiite Islam, accounts for about 10% of the population of Syria, which is a majority Sunni Muslim.