San Francisco Frontiers - Syria's Sharaa urges Alawites to surrender after deadly clashes

The threat came as Syria's security forces "executed" 162 Alawites on Friday, according to a Syrian war monitor, in a massive operation in the ethnic group's Mediterranean heartland triggered by deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to Assad the day before.

"You attacked all Syrians and made an unforgivable mistake. The riposte has come, and you have not been able to withstand it," Sharaa warned in a speech broadcast on Telegram by the Syrian presidency.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender before it's too late."

More than 250 people have been killed since the clashes erupted on Thursday along the country's western coast, which followed other deadly incidents in the area earlier this week, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Restoring security has been one of the most complex tasks for Syria's new authorities, installed after Islamist-led forces ousted Assad in a lightning offensive in December.

In his Friday address Sharaa, who headed the Islamist-led coalition which ousted Assad, also vowed to keep working towards "monopolising weapons in the hands of the state".

"There will be no more unregulated weapons," he pledged.

Western powers and Syria's neighbours have emphasised the need for unity in the new Syria, which is seeking funds for reconstructing a nation ravaged by years of war under Assad.

- 'Premeditated' -

The Britain-based Observatory said: "Five separate massacres claimed the lives of 162 civilians in Syria's coastal region on Friday, including women and children."

"The vast majority of the victims were summarily executed by elements affiliated to the Ministry of Defence and the Interior," both under the Islamist-led authorities' control, the rights group announced.

The Observatory and activists released footage showing dozens of bodies in civilian clothing piled in the yard of a house, with blood stains nearby and women wailing.

Other videos appeared to show men in military garb shooting people at close range.

AFP could not independently verify the images.

The United Nations envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, decried "very troubling reports of civilian casualties".

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

An interior ministry source quoted by official news agency SANA said isolated incidents had occurred on the coast and pledged to put a stop to them.

After Thursday's clashes, which according to the Observatory left 78 dead -- about half security force members and the other half gunmen, plus seven civilians -- the authorities launched a sweeping security operation.

Mustafa Kneifati, a security official in Latakia, said that in "a well-planned and premeditated attack, several groups of Assad militia remnants attacked our positions and checkpoints, targeting many of our patrols" around the coastal town of Jableh.

- Curfews -

A curfew was imposed until Saturday in the coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus, heartland of the ousted president's Alawite religious minority, and authorities on Friday announced a security sweep in the Jableh area, between Latakia and Tartus.

Officials blamed "sabotage" for a power outage that affected much of Latakia province.

A curfew has also been imposed in Syria's confessionally divided third city Homs.

The security operation "targeted remnants of Assad's militias and those who supported them", an official cited by SANA said, as he called on civilians to stay in their homes.

On Friday SANA said a security operation was launched in Assad's hometown of Qardaha, near Latakia, "against loyalists of the former regime."

SANA said that during their operation, security forces detained Ibrahim Huweija, a general who was "accused of hundreds of assassinations" under Assad's father and predecessor, Hafez al-Assad.

Ali, a farmer living in Jableh, told AFP he saw urban battles and street fighting.

"All night, we heard the sounds of gunfire and explosions," he said.

"Everyone's afraid... we are trapped at home and we can't go out."

- 'Under attack' -

Earlier in the week the Observatory reported four civilians killed in a security operation in the Latakia area, where state media had said "militia remnants" supporting Assad killed two security personnel in an ambush.

"Both sides feel like they're under attack, both sides have suffered horrific abuses at the hands of the other side, and both sides are armed," Syria expert Aron Lund, a fellow at the Century International think tank, told AFP.

Syria's new security forces have since carried out extensive campaigns seeking to root out Assad loyalists from his former bastions.

During those campaigns, residents and organisations have reported executions and other violations, which the authorities have described as "isolated incidents".

Russia, Assad's main backer that helped turn the tide of the war in his favour before he was toppled, called on Syrian authorities to "do their utmost to put an end to the bloodshed as soon as possible".

The foreign ministry of Iran, another major ally of Assad, said it strongly opposes "harming innocent Syrian people from any group and tribe, and considers it to be paving the ground for the spread of instability in the region."

Saudi Arabia and Turkey reaffirmed their support for the new authorities, while Jordan condemned "attempts to drive Syria toward anarchy".

Germany meanwhile urged Syria's authorities to avoid a "spiral of violence".

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M.Powell--SFF