The killings occurred in the heartland of Syria’s Alawite minority, escalating after a nascent insurgency formed against the Sunni Islamist government.

Syria's interim leader has appealed for unity, as violence and revenge killings continued in areas loyal to ousted former leader Bashar al-Assad on Sunday.Hundreds of people have reportedly fled their homes in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus - strongholds of Assad support.

More than 1,000 people were killed after two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad erupt. View on euronews

Over 1,000 people have been killed in two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad and ensuing revenge killing, according to a war monitoring group.

Syrian security forces and allied groups have killed 973 civilians, including women and children, in massacres in coastal areas and the Latakia Mountains. The violence targets the Alawite community, which supported former president Bashar al-Assad.

The situation in northwestern Syria continues to spiral out of control this weekend, as the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has been surging forces into the Alawite homelands in the Latakia and Tartus Governorates,

It seems that the 14-year-long civil war isn’t quite over in Syria. Since Thursday, violent clashes between deposed dictator Bashar Assad’s Alawite loyalists and supporters of the new Sunni regime in the coastal regions have left over 1,

Syrian security forces deployed heavily in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast on Saturday, after a war monitor reported that government and allied forces killed more than 500 civilians

In a gripping report by Rizik Alabi for The Media Line, Syria is once again consumed by violence as fighting between pro-Assad rebels and government security forces intensifies in the coastal province of Latakia.