More than 1,000 people have been killed in clashes in the coastal provinces of Syria, according to one war monitoring group.

Security forces were seen on the streets of Latakia on Saturday, March 8, amid reports that hundreds of members of the Alawite minortiy were killed. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 745 Alawites were killed in “30 massacres” as part of “an ethnic cleansing operation” on Friday and Saturday.

Mass grave containing remains of security, police personnel found near Qardaha city, according to local security source

Fighting between security forces and pro-Assad militants is worst in years; death toll, mostly of Alawites, considered among highest in Syria since 2013 chemical weapon attack

Sharaa, called for national unity Sunday, describing the outbreak of violence between government forces and supporters of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad as “expected challenges.”

International alarm is growing over fighting in western Syria, where hundreds of civilians have been reportedly killed amid intense clashes.

Clashes between government security forces and supporters of ousted former President Bashar al-Assad have killed at least 311 people in Syria since Thursday, according to a monitoring group that warns the actual death toll could be “much higher.

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.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa called for national unity and peace on Sunday, after more than 1,000 people were reportedly killed in coastal Syria in the worst clashes since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.