532 Alawites killed by Syrian security forces, allies since Thursday, monitor says

Syrian government forces are deployed amid heightened security in Damascus, Syria, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A Syrian war monitor says security forces and allied groups killed 532 Alawite civilians over the past days, revising upwards a previous toll of 340.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that “532 Alawite civilians were killed in the Syrian coastal areas and the Latakia mountains at the hands of security forces and allied groups” since Thursday, when deadly clashes broke out between security forces and gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar al-Assad.