“Deadliest acts of violence in over a decade”: Hundreds of Alawites killed by security forces

Violent clashes between Syrian security forces and loyalists of ousted longtime President Bashar al-Assad erupted on Thursday, marking a major escalation in the challenge to the new government in Damascus, three months after insurgents took control following Assad’s dramatic removal from power. More than 700 people were killed, making this massacre one of the country’s deadliest acts of violence in over a decade, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a war monitoring group. Nanara Hawatch, Senior Analyst for Syria at the International Crisis Group, explains.