The whole family was killed during recent violence in Syria, the United Nations says

The United Nations Human Rights Office says that all families, including women and children, have been killed in recent violence.

A spokesman told reporters that the UN had examined the killings of 111 civilians since last Thursday, but the actual figures were considered to be significantly higher.

Many of the cases were summary executions, and appeared to have been carried out on a sectarian basis, particularly in the targeted Alawite area, he added.

Gunners who support the Sunni Islamic-led government are accused of committing revenge killings after a fatal ambush by the loyalty of Alawite President Bashar al-Assad.

The watchdog group reports that more than 1,200 civilians, most of whom were killed in Latakia, eccentric, Hama and Homs provinces.

The United Nations welcomes the promise of Syrian interim president Ahmad Alshara and holds the person responsible for establishing and explaining an independent investigation committee.

Violence has been the worst in Syria since Sharaa led a rebel attack that overthrew Assad in December and ended a 13-year civil war in which more than 600,000 people had killed.

Syria’s northwest Mediterranean coast is the center of the Alawis, a derivative of Shia Islam, to which many of the political and military elites of the former Assad regime belonged.

Last week, security forces began operations in the area in response to the growing rebellion of Assad’s loyalists.

The violence escalated Thursday after 13 security guards were ambushed by gunmen in the coastal town.

Security forces responded by sending reinforcements to areas joined by armed groups and individuals supporting the government.

They raided many Alawite towns and villages throughout the region. There, residents said they had committed revenge killings and looted their homes and shops.

Thameen Al-Kheetan, a spokesman for the UN Human Rights Office, said Tuesday that he continues to clarify the “stricken scale of violence.”

He said the UN has used strict verification methods to record the murders of 90 male civilians, 18 women, two girls and one boy so far.

Initial reports showed that the perpetrators were “by “an unclear armed individuals and members of armed groups said to support security forces of caregiver authorities, as well as factors related to the former government.”

“In many very disturbing examples, the whole family was killed, including the fighting of women, children and individual horses, especially Alawite cities and villages, which were primarily targeted,” he said.

“According to many testimonies collected by our office, the assailants attacked the house and asked if they were Alawi or Sunni before they could kill or spare accordingly. Some survivors said many men had been shot dead in front of their families.”

According to Kheetan, Assad’s loyalists also stormed several hospitals in Latakia, Tartous and Baniyas. They reportedly clashed with security forces, resulting in dozens of civilian casualties, including patients and medical professionals.

The Syrian Human Rights Observatory, a UK-based watchdog group, said private deaths rose to 1,225 after a further 132 people were reported to have died on Tuesday, including 62 people in Baniya town. About 230 security guards and 250 pro-Assad fighter jets were also killed, according to the source network.

Keatan said the UN Human Rights Chief has urged Syrian authorities to conduct a swift, thorough, independent and impartial investigation.

“All those responsible for violations, regardless of their affiliation, must be kept to explain in line with the norms and standards of international law. The victim and his family have the right to truth, justice and reparation,” he emphasized.

A spokesman for the new government-established investigation committee said it was already “collecting and reviewing evidence,” and would present the report in 30 days.

“No one is beyond the law. The committee will convey all the results to the entities that launched it, the presidency and the judiciary,” Yasser Farhan told a news conference.

State-run Sana News Agency also reported four people arrested in coastal villages for “bloody violations against civilians” after being identified in video.

Meanwhile, residents of the area said the situation seemed calm on Tuesday.

A man who fled the town of Baniyas three days ago told the BBC that security forces had set up checkpoints in the neighborhood to prevent further killings and looting, allowing him to return to his home to check it out.

The man who asked to remain anonymous said the body that had been lying on the streets of Baniya last week was no longer there.

With the help of security forces, the Syrian red crescent moon was said to have recovered the body and buried it in a mass grave in the town’s cemetery.

However, most families have not returned home. Because they are hurt by concern for what happened and their safety in the ongoing reports of murder and looting.

Many people sought evacuation at the Russian-controlled Hmeimim Airbase outside Latakia city, either evacuated to local schools or fled to rural areas.

Others went to neighboring Lebanon, where the woman told the BBC that an armed man had attacked a rural Hama home two months ago and killed the man from his family.

“My nephews were 11 and 12. They rounded up them up and lined up all the other young Alawian men,” Hind said.

“One of them asked his friend about our religion. He said, ‘They are Alawians,’ so he pointed his gun and killed all the men in front of him. ”

“They consider us guilty just because our president was Alawyan. But the truth is that we are the poorest. Our young men joined the army just to be taken to fight and be killed.”

A young man named Wisham said he no longer trusts the government and security forces.

“They are all the same – they have armed, covered faces. They have privileges that no one else has. They do whatever they want,” he insisted.