Owing to international backlashꦛ over two day clashes between security forces and the loyalists of ousted President Bashar ܫAssad in which over one thousand people were killed, Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has vowed to punish those involved in ` harming civilians'.
This is the worst cycle of violence 🌜in Syria since December, when Sharaa's rebel movement overthrew Bashar al🗹-Assad's government in Syria.
Citing Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, The Associated Press reported that 745 civilians have been killed, mostly in shootings from close range, while 125 government security personnel and 148 militants affiliated with ༺armed groups supporting 💎Assad have also died.
What Did The Syrian Leader Say?
According to BBC, taki🐻ng cognisance of the severity of the unrest, Sharaa, in a speech said, "Today, as we stand at ꦛthis critical moment, we find ourselves facing a new danger - attempts by remnants of the former regime and their foreign backers to incite new strife and drag our country into a civil war, aiming to divide it and destroy its unity and stability," the interim president said on Sunday.",
"We affirm that we will hold accountable, firmly and without leniency, anyone who is involved in the bloodshed of civilians or harming our people, who overstepped the powers of the state or exploits authority to achieve his own ends", he further said while adding, "No-one will be above the law and anyone whose hands are st💝ained with the blood of Syrians will face justice sooner rather than later."
Earlier it was also announced that an independent committee had been formed in a bid to investigate🃏 the violations against civilians and identify the perpetrators.
About The Recent Revenge Killings
Violence erupted on Thursday between government security forces and gunmen loyal to ousted President Bashar al-Assad's r🔥eg♛ime in Syria's coastal region, raising the death toll from two days of clashes and subsequent revenge killings to more than 1,000.
The clashes marked a major escalation in the challenge to 🅺the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took authority after the fall of the Assad regime.
Clashes broke out in the provinces of Latakia and Tartus on Syria's Mediterranean coast, which is home to thꦕe country's Alawite minority and a bastion of support for ousted President Al-Assad.
About 10 percent of Syrians are Alawite, which a connected to Shia community in Islam. The Assad family, who ruled in Syria for almost ༒five decades, is Alawite.
The government has said it was responding to attacks by remnants of Assad's forces and blamed 'individual actions' for the w꧅idespread violence.
The retaliatory killings that started on Friday were executed by Sunni Muslim government loyalist gunmen against supporters of Assad's minority Alawite sect, a major blow to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group that overthrew the old government. The Alawite community has long been a crucial component of Assad's base, the Associated Press confirmed.
