Residents described shootings outside their homes and bodies in the streets in Syria’s worst unrest since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster. More than 1,000 people have been killed since Thursday, a war monitor said.

The recent surge in violence reflects the power vacuum left in the wake of Assad’s downfall. Remnants of Assad’s loyalist forces are refusing to surrender while the new government struggles to consolidate control. Localized skirmishes have quickly spiraled into a full-scale conflict, with both sides accusing the other of war crimes.

A war monitoring group said more than 1,000 were killed in revenge attacks and clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted President Bashar Assad.

Security forces battled for a second day on Friday to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect in western Syria, with scores reported killed as the Islamist-led government faced the biggest challenge yet to its authority.

After at least 200 civilians were killed in two days of bloodshed, Syria’s Ministry of Defense and General Security Forces halted operations on the coast against forces loyal to the deposed Assad regime on Saturday,

Syria's new leader has vowed accountability and an investigation after reports of mass killings of Alawite civilians triggered an international backlash against the worst violence since Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.

A war monitor says that clashes between Syrian security forces and gunmen loyal to former President Bashar Assad in the country’s coastal region have left more than 70 people dead and the area outside

Syrian security forces battled for a second day on Friday to crush a nascent insurgency by fighters from Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect, with scores reported killed as the Islamist-led government faced the biggest challenge yet to its authority.

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 as forces clashed with people loyal to former President Bahar Assad.

Syria's new government sent in security reinforcements and imposed curfews on a coastal area after major clashes with fighters loyal to the deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

They are the worst since Assad was removed from power in early December by insurgent groups led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.