Whole families killed during recent violence in Syria says UN says

Whole families, including women and children, were killed during the recent violence in the coastal region of Syria, the UN Human Rights Office said.

A spokesman told reporters that the UN has been checking the murder of 111 civilians since last Thursday, but that the actual figure is thought to be significantly higher.

Many cases have been generalized executions and seem to have been made on a sectarian basis, with alavite areas in particular, he added.

Government -led artillerymen, led by Islamist, have been accused of committing vengeful killings after an ambiguous ambush for a security patrol by President Bashar al -Assad, who is Alavit.

A monitoring group reported that more than 1,200 civilians, most of which Alavites, were killed in the provinces of Latakia, Tatus, Hama and Homs.

The UN welcomes the promise of Syria's temporary president Ahmad al -Sharaa to form an independent investigative committee and be responsible for reporting.

Violence has been the worst in Syria since Sharaa led the rebel offensive, which removed Assad in December, ending a 13 -year civil war that killed over 600,000 people.

The northwestern Mediterranean coast of Syria is the heart of the Alavit sect, the shoot of Shiite Islam, to which many of the political and military elite of the former Assad regime belong.

Last week, security forces began surgery in the region in response to the growing rebel of Assad's loyalists.

Violence escalates on Thursday after 13 security officers were ambushed by artillerymen in the coastal city of Jabeh.

Security forces responded by sending reinforcements to the region to which armed groups and persons supporting the government joined.

They stormed many cities and villages of Alavit throughout the region, where residents said they had committed real killings and looted homes and shops.

A spokesman for the UN Human Rights Service, Thameen Al-Kheetan, said on Tuesday that reports continue to appear from the “alarmed rock of violence.”

He said the UN, using strict verification methods, has so far documented the killings of 90 male civilians, 18 women, two girls and one boy.

Initial reports show that the perpetrators are members of armed groups supporting the security forces and elements related to the Assad regime, he added.

“In a number of extremely disturbing cases, entire families – including women, children and people who are fighting – were killed, in particular alavitic cities and villages,” he said, referring to fighters who were captured, expressed the intention of surrendering or incapable.

“According to many evidence gathered from our office, the perpetrators attacked houses, asking residents if they were Alavites or Sunni before they continued to kill them or spare them. Some survivors told us that many men were shot in front of their families.”

Assad's loyalists also attacked several hospitals in Latakia, Tartus and Banias, according to G -N -Hetan. They were confronted with security forces, reporting that dozens of civil victims, including patients and medics.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Based in the UK Monitoring Group said its civilian case of death increased to 1.225 after another 132 people were killed, including 62 in Bania. About 230 security officers and 250 Assad fighters have also been killed, according to a network of sources.

The Kheetan said the UN Chief of Human Rights called on the Syrian authorities to conduct fast, in -depth, independent and impartial investigations.

“All who are found responsible for violations must be taken into account, regardless of their affiliation, in accordance with the norms and standards of international law. Victims and their families are entitled to truth, justice and reparations,” he stressed.

A spokesman for the new investigative committee set up by the government said it “collects and reviews evidence” and will submit a report in 30 days.

“No one is above the law. The Committee will convey all the results of the entity that launches it, the Presidency and the judiciary,” Yasser Farhan told a press conference.

SANA State news agency has also said that four people have been arrested for “bloody violations against civilians” in a coastal village after being identified in videos.

Meanwhile, residents of the region said the situation seemed calm on Tuesday, with only sporadic shooting being heard overnight.

A man who escaped from the town of Bania three days ago told the BBC that he was able to return to his home to check it, as security forces created checkpoints to prevent more killings and robberies.

The man who wanted to remain anonymous also said that the bodies passing the streets of Banias last week were no longer there.

It has been said that the Syrian red crescent with the help of security forces restores the bodies and buries them in mass graves in the cemetery of the city.

However, most families have not returned home as they are traumatized by what happened and worry about their safety, against the backdrop of reports to continue killings and robbery.

Many have sought asylum in Russia -controlled Hmeimim Air Force Base outside Latakia, sheltered in local schools or fled in rural areas.

Others moved to a neighbor Lebanon, where a woman told the BBC that armed men had attacked her house in the village hammock two months ago and killed men from their family.

“My nephews were 11 and 12 years old. They rounded them up and lined all the other young alavite men,” Hind said.

“One of them asked his friend about our religion. He said,” They are alavites, “so he pointed his gun and killed all the men in front of him.”

“They see us as guilty only because our president was Alavit. But the truth is that we are the most, our young men joined the military, only to be taken to fight and to be killed.”

A young man named Vissa said he no longer trusts the government and security forces.

“They are all the same – armed and with covered faces. They have privileges that no one else has. They do what they want,” he said.