At least three people were killed on Sunday during Alawite protests in western Syria, health authorities said, as thousands took to the streets across the religious minority’s heartland following a deadly mosque bombing.
Thousands in coastal provinces and central Syria took part in demonstrations called by a religious authority to protest against the mosque attack in Homs on Friday that killed eight people and reignited minorities’ fears under the new Islamist authorities.
War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Syrian security forces shot and killed two people in the predominantly Alawite province of Latakia while dispersing a protest by members of the minority.
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Syria’s official SANA news agency later quoted the Latakia health directorate reporting “three deaths and 60 injuries” in “attacks by remnants of the former regime on security forces and civilians during protests in the city”.
A medical source told Agence France-Presse that at least two bodies were taken to a local hospital in Latakia.
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Agence France-Presse correspondents in Latakia and the coastal city of Jableh saw security forces intervene to break up clashes between demonstrators and supporters of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, firing gunshots in the air.