Damascus: Syria’s interim President, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, announced on Sunday, March 9, that an independent committee has been formed to investigate the mass killings of Alawite civilians in the Latakia province. He assured that those responsible would be held accountable.
In a video message published by the state-run SANA news agency, Al-Sharaa stated, “We will hold anyone involved in the shedding of innocent blood or the abuse of state power strictly accountable, without leniency.”
His remarks came after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the killings by "hardline Islamic terrorists" and urged Syria’s new government to take action against the perpetrators.
“The United States strongly condemns the attacks carried out by extremist Islamist terrorists, including foreign jihadists, who have massacred people in western Syria in recent days,” Rubio said in a statement.
He also reaffirmed U.S. support for Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including Christians, Druze, Alawites, and Kurds, expressing solidarity with the victims and their families.
Earlier, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the ongoing conflict, reported that approximately 973 Alawite civilians were killed in Latakia and Tartous by security forces and pro-government militias.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, called for an immediate halt to the killings. The United Nations, the Arab League, the United States, the UK, and several other nations condemned the violence in strong terms.
The clashes erupted last Thursday between Syria’s security forces and fighters loyal to the former government, eventually escalating into mass killings.
President Al-Sharaa called for national unity, stating during a speech at a mosque in Damascus, “God willing, we will live together in this country in peace.”
Islamist rebels toppled the decades-old Assad family regime in December 2024, ending the rule of Bashar Al-Assad, who belonged to the Alawite religious minority and led a secular authoritarian government.
In January 2025, the leader of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, was appointed as the head of Syria’s interim administration.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 1,311 people have been killed in the recent clashes, including 231 government security personnel, 250 pro-Assad fighters, and hundreds of civilians.
Syria’s Ministry of Interior announced that security forces launched clearance operations in Tartous on Sunday to eliminate remnants of the former regime.
Local residents reported that Syrian security forces were searching homes for men and claimed that some security personnel appeared to be foreign nationals. However, no independent evidence has been found to verify these claims.
