Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa forms committees to investigate clashes with Alawites

An ambush on a Syrian security patrol by gunmen loyal to ousted leader Bashar Assad escalated into clashes that a war monitor estimates have killed more than 1,000 people over four days.

The attack on Thursday near the port city of Latakia reopened the wounds of the country’s 13-year civil war and sparked the worst violence Syria has seen since December, when insurgents led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, overthrew Assad.

The counteroffensive against the Assad loyalists in the largely Alawite coastal region brought havoc to several cities and towns. Rights groups reported dozens of revenge killings resulting from Sunni militants targeting the minority Islamic sect, regardless of whether they were involved in the insurgency.

In their ambush, the pro-Assad Alawite gunmen overwhelmed government security forces and later took control of Qardaha, Assad's hometown, as Damascus scrambled to bring in reinforcements.

Defence Ministry spokesperson Col. Hassan Abdel-Ghani said Sunday that security forces have restored control of the region and will continue pursuing leaders of the galvanized insurgency.

But despite authorities calling for an end to the sectarian incitement, the clashes turned deadly, and many civilians were killed.

Most of the dead are apparently members of the Alawite community, who live largely in the country's coastal province, including in the cities of Latakia and Tartous. Rights groups estimate that hundreds of civilians were killed.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 745 civilians killed, mostly in shootings. In addition, 125 members of government security forces and 148 militants with armed groups affiliated with Assad were killed.

Syria's new interim government is under Sunni Islamist rule. Interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa, a former HTS leader, has promised that the country will transition to a system that includes Syria's mosaic of religious and ethnic groups under fair elections, but sceptics question whether that will actually happen.

Al-Sharaa appealed to Syrians and the international community in an address over the weekend, calling for accountability for anyone who harms civilians and mistreats prisoners. 

Blaming remnants of the former government for the outbreak of violence, and certain foreign parties supporting them, Al-Sharaa also formed a committee composed mostly of judges to investigate the violence.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Syrian authorities to “hold the perpetrators of these massacres" accountable. He added that the US “stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities.”