11 bodies found in Latakia countryside | The number of civilians extrajudicially executed in Syrian coast jumps to 1,639
The bodies of 11 civilians were found in a new mass grave in Al-Shamiyah village in Latakia countryside, bringing the number of civilians who were extrajudicially executed since the beginning of attacks against military and security forces on March 6 to 1,639. In addition, there is a large number of missing people whose fate remains unknown, as well as the presence of many corpses of victims in hospitals in the Syrian coastlines, whose families have not received them.
It is worth noting that sectarian militarization in Syria threatens the unity and civil peace in Syria and fuels divisions and retaliatory actions.
On March 9, the Syrian Presidency announced the formation of the committee and named its members, where the committee is required to submit the final report to the Syrian Presidency in no more than 30 days
With the committee’s work being in progress, residents and activists in the Syrian coast communicated with the Syrian Observatory and expressed their mistrust of the fact-finding committee and the outcomes of its investigations, amid accusations against the committee’s members of corruption, as they previously described mass executions as individual acts and denied massacres.
Since the beginning of dramatic developments in the Syrian coast and mountain areas, the Syrian Observatory has documented 62 massacres and other individual incidents of killing and executing civilians in four provinces.
Here is a regional distribution of civilian fatalities:
- Latakia: 853
- Tartus: 503
- Hama: 265
- Homs: 13
Accordingly, the number of civilians and combatants who were killed during the security campaign, which came as a response to attacks by Alawite gunmen on security forces on March 6, has increased to 2,171. The fatalities are distributed as follows:
- 273 members of security forces and the Ministry of Defence.
- 259 Alawite gunmen affiliated with the former regime.
- 1,639 civilians, mostly executed over sectarian affiliation.
On March 6, Alawite gunmen attacked checkpoints of security forces and the Ministry of Defence in the Syrian coastline. The attack was followed by fierce clashes and large-scale security campaigns which lasted for three days.
The Syrian Observatory addresses an urgent appeal to Syrian authorities in Damascus to hold accountable members of security forces and the Ministry of Defence who have been involved in executions committed against innocent civilians, and stresses that escaping accountability for such crimes encourages more crimes in the future; this, in turn, threatens the political and social stability and unity in Syria.