Entire families killed in Syria sectarian violence, UN says

CNN
 — 

Armed groups killed entire families, including women and children, during an outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria last week, the United Nations’ human rights office said on Tuesday.

The bloodshed in the coastal heartland of former ruler Bashar al-Assad saw more than 800 people killed in clashes between armed groups loyal to the toppled dictator and forces loyal to the new Syrian regime, according to a war monitor.

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCR) spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said the agency had documented at least 111 killings, though the number was believed to be far higher.

“Some survivors told us that many men were shot dead in front of their families,” Al-Kheetan told a regular press briefing in Geneva, adding that many of the “summary executions” targeted members of the Alawite minority.

The Assad family, which ruled Syria for more than half a century, are members of the minority Shiite Muslim sect, which lives predominantly in Sunni-majority Syria.

Al-Kheetan said the killings “appear to have been carried out on a sectarian basis, in Tartus, Latakia and Hama governorates – reportedly by unidentified armed individuals, members of armed groups allegedly supporting the caretaker authorities’ security forces.”

“In a number of extremely disturbing instances, entire families – including women, children and individuals hors de combat – were killed, with predominantly Alawite cities and villages targeted in particular,” he said.

The United Kingdom-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) said on Tuesday that among the 803 killed, “non-state armed groups” loyal to Assad were responsible for the deaths of 383 people, including 172 members of state security forces and 211 civilians.

Meanwhile, eyewitness testimonies and video verified by CNN showed government loyalists carrying out field executions, with some speaking of “purifying” the country.