Syria leader calls for peace after hundreds of civilians killed

There has been widespread violence between government supporters (pictured on Saturday) and Assad loyalists in Syria's coastal regions

Syria's leader Ahmed Sharaa has called for peace after days of clashes where Syrian security forces allegedly killed hundreds of civilians from the Alawite religious minority.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) - which monitors fighting in Syria - said about 745 civilians were killed in 30 "massacres" targeting Alawites on the west coast on Friday and Saturday.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the death toll of the escalating violence, believed to be the worst since the fall of the Assad regime.

President Sharaa said: "We must preserve national unity and civil peace as much as possible and... we will be able to live together in this country."

The number of fighters killed in the past four days brings the total death toll to more than 1,000 people, says the Syrian Observatory. This included about 125 fighters linked to the new Islamist-led government and 148 pro-Assad fighters.

Reuters news agency reported sources in the new Syrian government saying at least 200 of the fighters had been killed.

Speaking from a mosque in Damascus on Sunday, the interim president said: "What is currently happening in Syria is within the expected challenges."

He also announced in a statement that he had launched an investigation into the violence which would "identify those responsible" and refer the perpetrators to court.

He did not comment directly on accusations that atrocities were being committed by his supporters in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus.

On Sunday, Syrian media reported that fighting between government forces and Assad loyalists had also broken at a gas power plant in Banias, a city about halfway between Latakia and Tartus.

The violence of recent days has been sparked after ambushes on government forces on Thursday. A Syrian defence ministry spokesman described it to the Sana state news agency as "treacherous attacks" against security personnel.

It has since escalated into a wave of clashes between Assad loyalists and government forces.

Amid the fighting, hundreds of civilians living along the Mediterranean coast have fled their homes. The provinces of Latakia and Tartus were former heartlands of deposed president Bashar al-Assad, who also belongs to the Alawite minority.

Alawites, whose sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam, make up around 10% of Syria's population, which is majority Sunni Muslim.

The violence has left the Alawite community in "a state of horror", an activist in Latakia told the BBC on Friday.

Large crowds sought refuge at a Russian military base at Hmeimim in Latakia, according to the Reuters news agency.

Video footage shared by Reuters showed dozens of people chanting "people want Russian protection" outside the base.

Meanwhile, local media reported dozens of families had also fled to neighbouring Lebanon.

The UN's special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, said he was "deeply alarmed" by "very troubling reports of civilian casualties" in Syria's coastal areas.

He called on all sides to refrain from actions which could "destabilise" the country and jeopardise a "credible and inclusive political transition".

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, described the killings of Alawites in Latakia and Tartous as "systematic" and "extremely dangerous", and accused Syria's interim government of failing to control the crisis.

"It was expected that after the fall of the Assad government, Syria would face a difficult transition," Amani said. "But the scale of violence now unfolding is unprecedented and deeply troubling."

Iran's government was aligned with Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, which was toppled last December. Assad was ousted after decades of repressive and brutal rule by his family and an almost 14-year-long civil war.

Convoys of military vehicles in the Latakia countryside