Hundreds of Civilians Killed by Government Forces in Syria,

Two war monitoring organizations said on Saturday that numerous people have been murdered in three days of fighting between militants loyal to the overthrown tyrant Bashar al-Assad and those allied with Syria’s new leaders, with many of them having been slain by the government’s forces.

More than 1,000 people have been murdered in the coastal provinces of Tartus and Latakia, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British organization that has been keeping an eye on the Syrian conflict since 2011. About 700 civilians were included in that number; the majority were slain by government combatants.

Approximately 125 civilians were killed by government security personnel, according to a previous report by the Syrian Network for Human Rights. According to the report, the victims included males of various ages.

In response to the accusations of civilian deaths, representatives of the Information Ministry stated that they did not accept “undocumented allegations accusing government forces of committing violations.” However, they said that the government was dedicated to carrying out thorough investigations and would hold accountable anybody who were shown to have caused harm to citizens.

According to a ministry statement, “the Syrian government affirms that its forces adhere to stringent guidelines that uphold international humanitarian law and are eager to protect civilians during their operations.”

The majority of the people murdered, according to the Observatory, were members of the Alawite religious minority, which includes Mr. al-Assad, but this could not be independently confirmed either. Numerous fighters from both sides of the war have also been slain, according to the monitoring organization.

More than 100 security officers supporting the new administration were slain by Assad supporters, according to the Syrian Network for Human Rights.

Roads leading to the coastal area have been closed “to regulate violations, prevent transgressions and gradually restore stability to the area,” the Defense Ministry told Syrian state media on Saturday afternoon, adding that forces had retaken most of the areas that had been captured by the remnants of the former regime.

Since the Assad administration was overthrown by rebels who took over as the nation’s new leaders in early December, the upheaval has been the worst wave of bloodshed. In addition to posing a serious challenge to the legitimacy of the new administration, it has increased the likelihood of a wider sectarian war in Syria, where tensions were already high.

According to Haidera Younes, a spokesperson for the Syrian Red Crescent’s Tartus office, the organization had received authorization to enter one of the towns by Saturday afternoon in order to evacuate the injured.

According to government sources and the Observatory, the bloodiest attack on Syria’s new security forces to have killed 16 government security officers in Latakia province by Assad supporters sparked the battles on Thursday.

Violence swiftly expanded throughout the provinces of Latakia and Tartus, which are home to the majority of the nation’s Alawites and have traditionally been Mr. al-Assad’s strongholds along the Mediterranean coast. It is thought that armed relics of the overthrown government are dispersed throughout the two provinces and have posed a threat to the nation’s new authorities as they attempt to establish their rule.

In response to Thursday’s initial attack, the government sent hundreds of military and security personnel from throughout the nation to the tense shoreline. The administration has attempted to portray the conflicts as an authorized force against the last elements of a violent government.

According to a government official on the coast who wished to remain anonymous due to his lack of authorization to talk to media, the new government troops used helicopters equipped with machine guns for the first time on Thursday around the slopes of the coastal region. According to the official, the helicopters were sent to locations where armed Assad supporters were positioned.