Three people have been killed by security forces during a protest by members of Syria’s Alawite minority in the coastal city of Latakia on Sunday, a Britain-based war monitor said.
According to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), three deaths occurred when Syrian security forces tried to disperse the protests.
Syrian officials said they had “contained the situation” but did not confirm that their forces had opened fire.
Security forces reportedly tried to separate two groups of protesters who clashed with each other, members of the Alawite minority and Sunni Muslim supporters of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, by firing into the air.
According to an AP report, pro-government protesters threw stones at Alawites, while another group attacked a counter-demonstrator. Initially it was not clear how many people were injured in the clash between the two groups.
SOHR reported that violent clashes were also seen in the western inland city of Homs, resulting in several injuries.
Why did the protests erupt?
The protests followed a deadly mosque bombing in the Alawite neighborhood of Homs, which killed eight people. It was the latest attack against the community, which has been the target of violence since the fall of former leader Bashar Assad, himself part of the Alawite minority.
A Sunni extremist and jihadist group called Saraya Ansar al-Sunna claimed responsibility for the attack.
Syrian officials condemned the attack on the mosque and said those responsible would be held accountable, with no arrests announced yet.
Protesters on Sunday responded to a call by Ghazal Ghazal, an Alawite sheikh who does not live in Syria and heads the Supreme Alawite Islamic Council in Syria and the Diaspora.
Islamists often consider Alawites, who follow the heretical branch of Shia Islam, to be apostates.
Edited by: Sam Dusan Inayatullah