Clashes in Syria's coastal region between government forces Assad loyalists kill more than 70

Beirut, Mar 7 (AP) A Syrian war monitor says gunmen loyal to the government have stormed three villages near Syria's coast, killing nearly 70 men.
    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the killings occurred Friday in the villages of Sheer, Mukhtariyeh and Haffah.
    “They killed every man they encountered,” the Observatory's chief, Rami Abdurrahman, referring to gunmen who killed residents who belong to the country's minority Alawite sect of former President Bashar Assad.
    Abdurrahman said the gunmen shot dead 69 men and left without harming women or children in the three villages.
    The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen TV said more than 30 men were killed in the village of Mukhtariyeh after they were separated from women and children. It added that others were also shot dead in Sheer and Haffah.
    State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed security official as saying that after attacks by forces loyal to former president Bashar Assad left policemen dead, large numbers of people headed to areas along the coast “in what led to some individual violations and we are working on stop them.”
    The latest deaths raise to 147 the total number of people killed since clashes between government forces and fighters loyal to Assad broke out on Thursday. (AP) GSP
GSP

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)