ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The European Union on Sunday condemned the recent attacks on Syria’s western coastal areas which have reportedly claimed the lives of over 1,000 people in two days.
“The European Union strongly condemns the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-Assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of Syria and all violence against civilians,” the EU’s diplomatic service said in a statement.
“Civilians have to be protected in all circumstances in full respect of international humanitarian law,” it stressed.
Violence erupted in Alawite-majority areas on Syria’s Mediterranean coast on Thursday when armed groups, many loyal to ousted president Bashar al-Assad, launched attacks. Damascus responded with heavy force, cracking down on the largest challenge to their newly established rule.
Mays Maher, an activist in the coastal city of Latakia, told Rudaw that the Syrian security forces have neglected human rights obligations during their campaign against the former regime’s loyalists.
“On Thursday evening, a broad military campaign started after security forces clashed in Dalya village. Due to the clashes, nearly 300 people from the security forces were killed, which led to a broad military campaign in the Latakia area where medium and heavy weapons were used,” Maher told Rudaw on Sunday.
She highlighted that many civilians have lost their lives in the clashes, estimating the number to have reached more than 1,000 in only two days.
Maher explained that the armed groups attacking security forces coordinate their attacks in different areas and often hide among civilians.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, put the death toll at 1,018 people in its newest tally on Sunday, including “745 civilians who were killed in cold blood in sectarian massacres,” 125 government-affiliated forces, and 148 Assad regime loyalists.
In a statement on Saturday, France also expressed “deep concern” for the “serious violence that occurred in Syria.”
It “strongly condemned the atrocities that have targeted civilians on a sectarian basis and prisoners,” and called “on the interim Syrian authorities to ensure that independent investigations can fully uncover the truth about these crimes and that their perpetrators are held accountable.”
“France reaffirms its commitment to a peaceful and inclusive political transition, free from foreign interference, that guarantees the preservation of Syria's ethnic and sectarian pluralism, the only way to prevent the country from descending into fragmentation and violence. It will spare no effort in this regard,” the statement continued.
The new authorities in Damascus, headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa, the leader of the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group that spearheaded the offensive that forced Assad out of the country in December, have come under repeated criticism for their treatment of minority groups.
After taking power, Sharaa said he would respect the rights of all ethnic and religious groups. In a televised speech on Friday, he called on the armed groups to surrender, stressing they had committed a “great and unforgivable sin.”
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa labeled the unrest in Syria an “expected challenge” while delivering a speech at a local mosque in Damascus, amid reports of massacres by government forces in the Alawite-majority western coastal regions.
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) March 9, 2025
📸: Pro-government media pic.twitter.com/2AuxSarFKZ
According to Maher, officers from the Syrian security forces have been delivering sectarian and hateful speeches against the Alawite community on social media platforms, with tens of videos circulating online.
Assad and many who were in his inner circle are Alawites. The Observatory’s Rami Abdulrahman cautioned against using the regime loyalist label.
“We cannot justify killings by claiming that every person killed is a regime loyalist,” he told Rudaw on Saturday, noting that among those killed were “opponents of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and former detainees in his prisons” who were executed in their homes.
Clashes have also broken out in the south of the country, and Israel has threatened a military incursion to defend Druze communities.
The violence has drawn condemnation from many corners, including the United Nations, Britain, Iraq, and Iran. Saudi Arabia and Turkey have expressed support for the Syrian authorities.