Three Alawites Killed by Security Forces in the West, Says NGO

BEIRUT — Three Syrians from the Alawite community were killed, and several homes and vehicles were set on fire during an operation carried out Wednesday night by Syrian security forces in two villages in the province of Latakia, in western Syria, according to an NGO.

On Wednesday, eight Alawites were shot dead at a security checkpoint in Hama after five others were found dead near Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The Muslim Alawite minority, from which ousted President Bashar al-Assad hails, has been the target of abuses since he was overthrown in December by a coalition of Sunni Islamist rebels led by current President Ahmad al-Sharaa.

"Members of the law enforcement forces stormed the village of Beit Aana on Wednesday night and set fire to dozens of houses, as well as a school, a shopping center, and a sports club during a security operation," SOHR stated.

According to the NGO, "two young men from the village were shot dead, including a disabled person" during the operation. It adds that the body of a third man, from the neighboring village of Batmoush, was found riddled with bullets on Thursday.

In Dalia, three houses were set on fire and several young men were arrested, SOHR indicated.

For its part, the province of Latakia reported a security operation aimed at "tracking down those involved in the attack that targeted the telecommunications center of the village of Dalia" and announced the arrest of several individuals "involved in the attack."

A curfew had been imposed in the village as well as in Beit Aana on Wednesday night, following the attack according to them.

But SOHR director Rami Abdel Rahmane told AFP that according to the residents of Dalia, no attack had targeted the telecommunications center, which was empty.

The operation "angered and outraged the inhabitants" of the two villages, according to the UK-based NGO, which has a vast network of sources in Syria.

Last March, massacres killed more than 1,700 people, mostly Alawites, after clashes between security forces and men loyal to Bashar al-Assad in the west of the country, according to SOHR.

Sharaa has promised to prosecute those responsible for the massacres and formed an independent investigative commission, but summary executions and acts of vendetta regularly occur according to SOHR.