Alawites, a Shia sect, ruled Syria for decades under the Assads. Now, after Bashar al-Assad's fall, they face violence as sectarian tensions escalate in the war-torn country

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

Ten thousand members of the Alawite minority escaping sectarian violence in Syria have crossed into Lebanon over the past five days and settled in northern towns and areas, heightening tension and rekindling past conflicts,

The death toll from two days of clashes between security forces and loyalists of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and revenge killings that followed has risen to more than 600, a war monitoring group said Saturday.

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.

Syrian security forces battled for a second day on Friday to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, with scores reported killed as the Islamist-led government faced the biggest challenge yet to its authority.

Syria's leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Friday urged insurgents from ousted president Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority to lay down their arms or face the consequences after the fiercest attacks on the

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.