Interim leader Sharaa calls for peace as Syria hit by deadliest violence in years

Syrian official Ahmed Sharaa urged for peace on Sunday following the deaths of hundreds in one of the most lethal episodes during the 13 years of civil war, which has been a conflict between loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and the new Islamist leaders of the country.

The fighting, which a war monitoring organization reported had claimed 1,000 lives, primarily civilians, persisted for a fourth day in Assad’s coastal stronghold.

A Syrian security official stated that the intensity of combat had decreased near the cities of Latakia, Jabla, and Baniyas, as troops combed nearby mountainous regions where around 5,000 pro-Assad militants were concealed.

Interim president Sharaa urged Syrians not to let sectarian tensions further destabilise the country.

“We have to preserve national unity and domestic peace, we can live together,” Sharaa said in a circulated video, speaking at a mosque in his childhood neighbourhood of Mazzah, in Damascus.

“Rest assured about Syria, this country has the characteristics for survival … What is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges.”

Rebels led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group toppled Assad’s government in December. Assad fled to Russia, leaving behind some of his closest advisers and supporters, while Sharaa’s group led the appointment of an interim government and took over Syria’s armed forces.

The overthrow of Assad concluded years of dynastic governance by his family, characterized by harsh repression and a devastating civil war that started as a peaceful protest in 2011. After months of relative peace following Assad’s removal, violence escalated this week as troops associated with the new Islamist regime launched a crackdown on a rising insurgency from Assad’s Alawite sect in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartous.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitoring group based in Britain, reported on Saturday that over 1,000 individuals had lost their lives in the two days of combat. It reported that 745 were civilians, 125 were part of the Syrian security forces, and 148 were fighters loyal to Assad.

Rami Abdulrahman, the director of the observatory, stated that the civilians consisted of Alawite children and women.