Fierce clashes over the past two days between security forces under Syria’s new Islamist government and gunmen belonging to the country’s Alawite religious minority killed scores of people, marking the most widespread violence since the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The fighting and reprisal killings were centered in Syria’s coastal region of Latakia, a heartland for the Alawite sect, and spilled into neighboring Homs and Tartus provinces, demographically mixed areas that have seen sporadic sectarian killings in recent months.

Assad is a member of the Alawite sect and drew heavily from its ranks to fill his army. Since his ouster in December, Alawite militias have armed themselves and carried out attacks against forces affiliated with Syria’s new government.

The violence Thursday and Friday was far more brutal than during previous bursts. An Alawite leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the perilous security situation said more than 100 people were killed in Latakia province alone.

Syria’s interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said that forces loyal to the former regime had tried to “test” the new Syria, adding that government forces had fought with “honor.” After the outbreak of violence, which included an attack on a convoy of Syrian security forces, security officials said that government forces were carrying out sweeping operations in coastal areas.

A slew of videos purporting to show killings in Alawite areas were shared online, fueling sectarian passions. Two unverified videos filmed in the tiny Alawite village of Al-Mukhtariyya showed at least 27 bodies laid out on the ground. At least five were fully or partially stripped to their underwear. Others were barefoot or in socks and lay face down in the dirt, which was mixed with scarlet blood. “My husband, oh God!” one woman wailed. Other unverified videos showed men being executed or made to crawl on the ground and bark like dogs.

Syrian officials did not respond to requests for comment. But the new government distanced its forces from those that were apparently carrying out retaliatory attacks and indicated that it was struggling to contain such violence. “Large unorganized popular crowds” had headed to the coast and had committed “violations” that the state was trying to stop, an official with the Interior Ministry told the state news agency.

In the months since Assad’s ouster, al-Sharaa — formerly known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani — has attempted to prevent sectarian bloodletting in a country emerging from 14 years of brutal civil war. But while Damascus has remained relatively stable, killings have occurred outside the capital.

Alawite community leaders framed the unrest Thursday and Friday as the product of sectarian oppression, including abductions of Alawites and mass firings of members of the sect from government jobs. Some in the community had taken up arms in response to the discrimination and violence they have faced since the new government took power, these leaders said.

“They kidnapped, they killed, they humiliated, they kicked people out of jobs,” said one Alawite writer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for security reasons and said his home was shaking from tank fire. “One way or another, this was going to happen.”

Residents said the violence began with killings of Alawite civilians in the Daartur area of Latakia.

Later Thursday, a convoy of security forces affiliated with the new government was ambushed in the village of Beit Ana, the birthplace of Suhail al-Hassan, a former commander of Syria’s special forces under Assad’s government. An Alawite leader said the attack was provoked by the security forces, which had used racist slurs. He said that local leaders met Thursday and tried to calm tensions by reaching out to political and security officials with the government, but that no one responded.

The attack on the convoy fueled further violence, setting off a fury of revenge killings and other retaliation, residents said.

Col. Hassan Abdul Ghani, a spokesman for the Syrian Defense Ministry, said military forces had “achieved rapid field progress” and re-imposed control following “treacherous” attacks.

“We warn again of the dire consequences of continuing treachery, and we confirm that anyone who refuses to hand over his weapon to the state will face a decisive response without leniency,” he said in a statement. “Those who bet on chaos have not yet realized that the era of tyranny has ended.”

One video circulating online Friday showed an apparently indiscriminate response by government forces. In the video, a man pushes two unexploded munitions out of a helicopter flying along the Syrian coastline in Latakia province. The munitions are consistent with a Russian RGB-25, a depth charge typically used to destroy submarines, according to Trevor Ball, a former explosive ordnance disposal technician for the U.S. Army. He said in a message that the munitions would probably explode on impact when they hit the ground or the water. It was not clear from the video where they landed.

In the coastal town of Jableh, which has been a hot spot of earlier violence, government security forces were going house-to-house, residents said.

“We’ve locked the door. There’s artillery and shooting,” one 32-year-old resident of Jableh said in a phone interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he feared for his safety. “Listen, do you hear it?” he said as gunfire cracked in the background.

While several villages remained outside state control Friday morning, the Alawite forces were outgunned, residents said.

“All these villages are making resistance,” the Alawite writer said. “But our people only have Kalashnikovs. The result of this fight is clear: Our people will lose.”

“There are bodies in the streets,” he said. “There is no time to bury them.”

Thousands of families had gathered at a Russian air base at Hmeimim, in Latakia province, in an attempt to seek protection, residents said, sharing pictures of the crowds. Russia, a key backer of Assad’s regime, is negotiating the future of its military bases in Syria with the new government.

Asked about the fighting in the coastal area and threat to Russian troops, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “the necessary security of our servicemen in Syria is provided at the proper level” but declined to comment further.

Turkey, Syria’s neighbor and a key backer of Sharaa’s government, expressed alarm Friday at the spiraling violence.

“At this critical juncture, the tension in and around Latakia, as well as the targeting of security forces could undermine the efforts to lead Syria into the future in unity and solidarity,” Oncu Keceli, a spokesman with the Turkish Foreign Ministry, wrote in a post on X. “Such provocations must not be allowed to become a threat to peace in Syria and the region,” he wrote.

Sarah Cahlan, Jonathan Baran and Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report.

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