War monitor: Syrian security forces executed 69 Alawite men

A Syria war monitor says Friday that security forces “executed” 69 members of the Alawite minority, which toppled president Bashar al-Assad belongs to, a day after deadly clashes with gunmen loyal to him.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that security forces “executed 69 Alawite men in the towns of Al-Shir and Al-Mukhtariya in the Latakia countryside,” citing verified videos and testimonies from relatives of the dead.

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

In another clip, men in military garb appear to order three people to crawl on the ground behind each other before opening fire on them at close range.

A third video shared by the Observatory shows a fighter in military garb shooting a man at close range at the entrance of a building, killing him.

AFP cannot independently verify the images.