Syrian security forces have killed several Assad regime loyalists in an operation in the coastal city of Latakia, official media said, as residents reported more killings of minorities.
The announcement came a month after sectarian massacres against the Alawite population of the coast raised international concerns about whether minorities can survive under the new post Bashar Al Assad order.
The authorities did not say how many people were killed in the operation. Residents said that at least two young men, brothers Mahran and Mohammad Adira, were killed. Security forces apprehended them at the All Azhari roundabout in the north of the city, and shot them on the spot, leaving their bodies in the street, according to the residents.
Since the fall of Bashar Al Assad at the end of least year, President Ahmad Al Shara has sent troops and militias to subdue Alawite coastal areas that formed the heartland of support for his predecessor. Sectarian bloodshed in the region quickly followed, culminating in the killing of at least 1,300 people, mostly Alawite civilians, on March 7 and 8.
Official media quoted a police commander in Latakia as saying that a special force “engaged” on Wednesday with the head of a “cell belonging to regime remnants” who had killed two policemen last month. The cell’s chief and at least one of its members “were neutralised”, the official said. "No effort will be spared in the pursuit of all terrorist groupings and striking [at them] with an iron fist," he added.
An Alawite businessman who lives near in the roundabout, and who did not want to be named for fear of persecution, said that even if the brothers were regime loyalists "it was not the way to deal with them".
"The Sunnis I know are outraged at what is happening to us, but they cannot say anything," he said. “If they don't kill us, they rob our houses or steal our cars," he said.
He said incidents of Alawites being kidnapped or killed have been occurring daily in Latakia and other coastal urban areas, such as Baniyas, Jablah and Tartus, which form the heartland of the minority sect, to which Mr Al Assad and most of the former ruling elite belonged.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that three unarmed men were killed in the Al Azhari roundabout operation. One of them was wanted in a legal case while the other two were on their way back to work. A video purportedly showed gunmen stomping on the body of one of the three in front of passing cars.
A teacher in the coastal city of Jablah said that fear continues to grip the city, which has a large Alawite population, and that most pupils are not attending school. Security forces, she said, where checking IDs in the streets, subjecting Alawites to extra scrutiny, with some disappearing after being seized.
